Francis also announced that Sister Raffaella Petrini will become the first female president of the Vatican City State governorate this March, elevating her from her current position as Secretary General.
“The work of women in the Curia has progressed slowly but effectively. Now, we have many,” Pope Francis said during the televised conversation.
The appointment of Sister Petrini will take effect following the retirement of Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga from his current position as President of the Governorate.
“Women manage better than we do,” he asserted, reported ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian language partner agency.
The appointment follows that of Sister Simona Brambilla as Prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life.
Call for peace and Jubilee hope
The Holy Father also addressed ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel during the interview. “War is always a defeat,” the pontiff proclaimed, emphasizing the vital importance of negotiations and peace-building efforts.
Reflecting on the current Jubilee Year, Pope Francis stressed that pilgrimages to Rome’s Holy Door must be undertaken with genuine religious intent: “If you come to Rome and visit the Holy Door as a tourist, without a religious purpose, it serves no purpose.”
The interview marked the pope’s third appearance on the program.
AC Wimmer is the News Editor for Europe and Asia at EWTN News. The multilingual Australian, raised in Bavaria and South Africa, served as editor-in-chief of several news media outlets. A graduate in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, the veteran journalist is a former Honorary Research Fellow in Communications at his alma mater and served on the Board of Caritas in Munich.
