Bohumil Petrik/CNA.According to a source cited by Catholic News Agency, two new female members of the Dicastery of Bishops are probably two religious sisters who are already well-known in the Vatican.
In an interview with Reuters, Pope Francis disclosed that he will shortly nominate two women to the Dicastery for Bishops.
Even if they have as much expertise as the two who are likely to be appointed, members of the dicastery have rarely been non-bishops and certainly never women up to now.
Bishop selection for the dioceses is assisted by the dicastery members. They review ponenze, or position papers, and offer an assessment of candidates.
The idea that only a bishop could offer such a critique of a potential bishop has been held for a number of reasons.
First, there is a theological explanation: bishops are ordained at the same time as new bishops and hence have equal authority.
The difficulties of a bishop’s job can only be understood by a bishop, hence there is a second practical justification.
But since the Curia’s reorganization, a mandate is now delivered by canonical mission rather than through ordination. In other words, candidates for positions must be competent.
Sisters Nicoletta Vittoria Spezzati and Mary Melone are most likely the two women selected for the department of bishops, a Vatican source told CNA.
From 2011 to 2018, Sister Nicoletta Vittoria Spezzati, 74, was the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life’s undersecretary.
After the pioneer Enrica Rosanna, who held the position of number three in the dicastery for religious people from 2004 to 2011, she was the second sister to assume this position.
A third female undersecretary, Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, has been the dicastery’s third undersecretary since February 2018 and has been employed there since 1992.
Even though the speculations say Sister Spezzati is the most likely choice, she might also be a strong contender.
Sister Maria Domenica Melone, also known as Sister Mary Melone, is the other lady that insiders anticipate will join the department of bishops.
From 2014 through 2019, a 58-year-old Franciscan served as the Pontifical Antonian University’s first female rector.
She began working for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on July 16, 2014, after Pope Francis named her as a consultant.
She is one of the six women Pope Francis has proposed for the newly formed Study Commission on Women’s Diaconate.
She resigned as rector on July 15, 2019, in order to accept her position as superior general of the Franciscan Sisters Angeline for the six-year period 2019–2025.
She is a prolific writer who published a paper on women in the Church in 2019.
If the rumors are true, they will be a part of the dicastery that assists the Pope in appointing bishops all over the world, with the exception of missionary regions, which are within the purview of the Dicastery for Evangelization.