Vatican City, 25 February, 2025 / 10:45 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis has named two secretaries-general to serve under Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, in the Governorate of the Vatican City State, giving the Vatican’s first woman president “the power to dispose and confer... specific competencies or particular tasks” on the appointees.
The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Francis had appointed Archbishop Emilio Nappa and layman Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi to serve as joint secretaries-general of the governing body of the Vatican City State.
The nomination follows the pope’s appointment of Franciscan Sister Petrini as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State on Feb. 15, after she served as secretary-general of the governorate for just over three years.
Petrini, who will assume her new roles on March 1, is the first woman and non-cardinal to hold the positions — making her one of the highest-ranking women ever in the Vatican.
In Tuesday’s announcement, the Vatican said Pope Francis had also granted Petrini “the power to dispose and confer, appropriately, on the aforementioned secretaries-general, specific competencies or particular tasks,” appearing to give her a carte blanche to choose the responsibilities of her now two righthand men.
