New secretary of Vatican dicastery says much needs to be done to combat abuse in religious life
September 24, 2025
» Continue to this story on Vatican News (Italian)
CWN Editor's Note: Sister Tiziana Merletti, FSP, appointed by Pope Leo XIV as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said in an interview that “much remains to be done” to combat abuse in religious life.
A Franciscan Sister of the Poor with degrees in civil and canon law, Sister Merletti said she was referring not only to sexual abuse, but also to abuse of power and authority, spiritual abuse, abuse of conscience, and economic abuse. She spoke of “the need to find a home and meaning for what we experience: suffering, dismay, scandal, powerlessness, injustice, purification, forgiveness, starting over, but often defeat.”
Sister Merletti described her dicastery—which has a woman religious as prefect, a cardinal as pro-prefect, and herself as secretary—as an “absolute novelty within the Roman Curia” and as a “a notable and promising fruit of the increasingly significant participation of women in the exercise of leadership within the Church.”
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