Pope Francis has changed the office governing Vatican City State’s statutes to give the new president two top-level assistants. Source: CNS.
As he had announced on an Italian television program in January, Pope Francis appointed Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Raffaella Petrini as president of the Vatican City State government, beginning tomorrow.
She had been secretary-general of the office since late 2021 and will be the first woman to lead the office.
The Vatican press office announced on February 25 that, while in hospital, Pope Francis had slightly moderated the “Fundamental Law of Vatican City State” to appoint two secretaries-general to assist Sr Petrini rather than just one.
The two are Archbishop Emilio Nappa, who was adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelisation and is president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, and Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi, a lawyer who had served as vice secretary-general of the office since 2021.
Working from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he has been receiving treatment for double pneumonia since February 14, Pope Francis ordered that Sr Petrini has “the power to organise and confer on” her secretaries-general the tasks she believes each should handle.
The Vatican City State governing office is responsible for a vast array of essential services, including: the Vatican police and fire departments; upkeep of the Vatican gardens; rubbish collection; the Vatican health service and pharmacy; the post office; the Vatican museums; and all the Vatican infrastructure, including internet, telephones, electricity and plumbing.
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Pope gives Sister Petrini two assistants for running Vatican City (CNS via Catholic Review)
