Category: Events

Rome: Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office, appointing an Italian nun, Sister Simona Brambilla, to become prefect of the department responsible for all the Catholic Church’s religious orders.

The appointment on Monday marks a major step in Francis’ aim to give women more leadership roles in governing the church. While women have been named to No. 2 spots in some Vatican offices, never before has a woman been named prefect of a dicastery or congregation of the Holy See Curia, the central governing organ of the Catholic Church.

The appointment means that a woman is now responsible for the women who do much of the church’s work – the world’s 600,000 Catholic nuns – as well as the 129,000 Catholic priests who belong to religious orders.

[N]othing theologically would now prevent Francis from naming Brambilla a cardinal, since cardinals don’t technically have to be ordained priests.

But in an indication of the novelty of the appointment and that perhaps Francis was not ready to go that far, the pope simultaneously named as a co-leader, or “pro-prefect”, a cardinal: Angel Fernandez Artime, a Salesian.

The appointment, announced in the Vatican daily bulletin, lists Brambilla first as “prefect” and Fernandez second as her co-leader. Theologically, it appears Francis believed the second appointment was necessary since the head of the office must be able to celebrate Mass and perform other sacramental functions that currently can only be done by men.

Catholic women have long complained of second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.

Francis has upheld the ban on female priests and tamped down hopes that women could be ordained as deacons.

[Ed: Far too little, too late. The Catholic Church should be stripped of its assets to compensate the many harmed by the pedophile priests nurtured and protected by this global crime syndicate.]

Source: Pope Francis names Sister Simona Brambilla, first woman, to head a major Vatican office for all religious orders

Democrat-voting Americans say they feel reaffirmed in their belief that most of the United States would rather anyone else as president than a woman after Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“the only thing america hates more than a rapist is a woman,” an X user wrote racking up more than 600k likes and 100k reposts.

Harris’s campaign, which ran staunchly on protecting reproductive rights and upholding democracy, had hoped to follow similar results to Biden’s win.

But the message to Democrats on Wednesday morning was that it wasn’t enough to convince most of the country, especially men, to keep Trump in the past.

“When Trump wins twice against 2 separate women, but loses against another man, it’s not about the candidate, it’s about their hate for women,” one X user wrote.

[Ed: Kamala’s willingness to betray all women by denying the reality of sex and quashing all dissent on this subject may have also played a role . . . )

Source: Devastated Harris voters conclude America hates women as Trump defeats second female rival