Pope Leo XIV has named Sr Alessandra Smerilli FMA as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Vatican announced yesterday, making her the latest woman elevated to lead a major Vatican office under the new pontificate. Source: OSV News.
The Pope also appointed Cardinal Fabio Baggio as pro-prefect of the same dicastery, with special responsibility for the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Centre.
Sr Smerilli and Cardinal Baggio will take up their new roles on September 1.
The pairing of a woman religious as prefect alongside a cardinal as pro-prefect echoes a leadership model first introduced by Pope Francis, who in January 2025 named Sr Simona Brambilla prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, with Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime serving alongside her as pro-prefect.
Sr Smerilli, a member of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, succeeds Cardinal Michael Czerny, 79, the Czech-born Canadian Jesuit who has led the dicastery since 2022.
She has served as the dicastery’s secretary since August 2021, when she became the first woman appointed to that position in a Vatican dicastery.
Yesterday’s appointment marks the second time in a month that Pope Leo has placed a woman at the head of a Roman Curia dicastery, following his June 2 appointment of Montse Alvarado as prefect of the Dicastery for Communication.
“The work of our dicastery is to accompany all the local churches, always aware that everyone needs development, and that peripheries are not only geographical,” Sr Smerilli said last year.
“Our mission is not just to bring the Church to the margins, but also to bring the margins to the centre – to ensure that the voices of the peripheries are heard.”
The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development was established by Pope Francis in 2016 through the merger of four pontifical councils dealing with justice and peace, migrants, charitable works and healthcare.
Its mandate spans issues including human rights, disarmament, the environment, and care for refugees, prisoners, and victims of conflict and trafficking.
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Pope Leo names Salesian sister as prefect of Vatican’s human development dicastery (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
