Doubling down on Pope Francis’ reforms

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 16, 2026

When he became prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, then-Cardinal Prevost inherited the members of that dicastery who had been appointed by Pope Francis. If the new Pontiff wanted to change the composition of the group, and thereby change the sort of clerics chosen to become diocesan bishops, he could have done so last week, when he made his own appointments to the dicastery. He didn’t.

Rather than choosing his own team, Pope Leo confirmed thirty of the thirty-one dicastery members chosen by Pope Francis. (The only exception was a woman religious who, at 81, was beyond the age of eligibility.) The only Americans on the panel are Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Joseph Tobin of Newark. So the American Catholics who have been wondering whether the new Pope will appoint a different sort of bishops should wonder no longer.

To fill the open seat on the dicastery, Pope Leo made another choice that strongly affirmed the direction taken by Pope Francis, naming Sister Simona Brambilla, who was, coincidentally, the controversial choice of Pope Francis to become prefect of the Dicastery for Religious (officially known as the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life). That appointment, in October 2023, was a jolt to the Roman Curia; for the first time, a woman was at the head of a Vatican dicastery.

All offices of the Roman Curia serve at the pleasure of the Pontiff, helping him to carry out his work of guiding and governing the universal Church. But since in practice the Vatican dicasteries exercise some governing authority of their own, the leadership spots had traditionally been reserved for bishops, who as successors to the Apostles had authority to participate with the Roman Pontiff in governing the Church. The Second Vatican Council confirmed that the heads of the major Vatican congregations (as they were then called) should always be cardinals—members of the body charged with advising the Pontiff. The exclusion of women (and lay men) from these roles was not a question of discrimination, but a recognition of the unique authority conferred by the sacrament of episcopal ordination.

In 2022, however, Pope Francis annulled that policy. In Praedicate Evangelium, the apostolic constitution with which he reformed the Roman Curia, he drew a distinction between the sacramental powers conferred by ordination and the powers of governance, which could be carried out by someone who is not ordained. As with many other changes introduced by Pope Francis, Praedicate Evangelium did not fully explain the distinction between the two roles. But the document did make it clear that women and lay men could be appointed as prefects—at least to offices not directly involved with the administration of the sacraments.

Because the appointment of Sister Brambilla had raised questions and eyebrows around Rome, some Vatican-watchers questioned whether Pope Leo would confirm her role at the Dicastery for Religious. That question, too, has now been answered.

In fact, today the Vatican News service carried an essay by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, offering a theological reflection on the appointment of a women religious to lead a dicastery. Cardinal Ouellet (who, readers may recall, preceded Pope Leo as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops) acknowledged that “this initiative runs counter to the ancestral custom of entrusting positions of authority to ordained ministers.” Nevertheless he offered his full support to “Pope Francis’ prophetic gesture.”

The traditional practice of reserving top Curial offices for bishops, the cardinal wrote, “does not mean that the sacrament of Holy Orders is the exclusive source of all government in the Church.” Pope Francis, he explained, saw “the authority of the Holy Spirit at work beyond the link established between the ordained ministry and the government of the Church.”

The traditional understanding of authority within the Church, based on the belief that the guidance of the Holy Spirit is conferred in a special way through episcopal ordination, is set forth clearly in the Catechism and the Code of Canon Law. But Cardinal Ouellet argues that this understanding may reflect an inadequate understanding of how the Holy Spirit works through the People of God. He writes:

The canonical approach does not seem inclined to consider the Holy Spirit as anything other than the overall guarantor of the Institution; it seems to lack the means to discern the signs of the Spirit, his personal and communal motions, the particular charisms with which he endows the members of the Body of Christ…

The cardinal makes a convincing argument that not every function of Vatican governance requires the authority conferred by sacramental ordination: “for example, in human resource management, the administration of justice, cultural and political discernment, financial administration, and ecumenical dialogue.” Many lay Catholics might think that they could do a better job than bishops in those fields, and many of them might be right. But the fact that some lay Catholics might be better qualified than bishops for some governing responsibility leaves open the question of where professional competence ends and the guidance of the Holy Spirit begins. This innovation, like so many others introduced by Pope Francis, has raised new questions about the nature of Church authority, and left those questions unanswered.