Pope appoints religious sister to run Vatican City State

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Raffaella Petrini, secretary-general of the office governing Vatican City State, will become president of the office March 1, the Vatican confirmed.

On an Italian television program in January, Pope Francis had announced that Sister Petrini would succeed Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga. The Vatican announcement Feb. 15 said Sister Petrini's appointment would take effect March 1, the day Cardinal Vérgez turns 80 and is required to step down.

Appearing on talk show "Che Tempo Che Fa" Jan. 19, Pope Francis said that the process of women being given leadership roles in the Roman Curia "is something that has gone slowly," but would continue with Sister Petrini talking over the governor's office.

Sister Petrini, 56, was born in Rome and made her perpetual vows with the U.S.-based Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist in 2007.

The Vatican governor's office oversees departments as diverse as the Vatican Museums, post office and police force; it has the largest number of employees of any Vatican office. In 2021 when Sister Petrini was named secretary-general of the office, she became the highest-ranking woman at the Vatican.

The position of secretary-general previously had been held by a priest, who was named a bishop shortly after becoming secretary-general. The president of the office always has been a cardinal or archbishop.

Sister Petrini holds a doctorate in social sciences from Rome's Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and a master's degree in organizational behavior from the Barney School of Business at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. Before being appointed secretary-general, she worked at the then-Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and taught courses in sociology and economics at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas.