“I still consider myself very new, a sort of ‘beginner,’” Sister Simona Brambilla admits one year after her appointment as the first female prefect of the Roman Curia, in an interview with I.MEDIA.
Sr. Simona Brambilla, the first female prefect of a dicastery in the Roman Curia, spoke with Aleteia about peace, rediscovering "the spark," and the role of women.
The Italian nun at the head of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life outlines the main lines of action of her “ministry.” Her office is responsible for accompanying the approximately 650,000 religious men and women registered worldwide (according to the latest figures from 2022).
She emphasizes the special mission of consecrated persons in promoting peace, “in these times marked by too much violence.”
A message of peace
What message do you think is most urgent to convey to consecrated communities at a time of profound cultural and spiritual challenges?
Sr. Simona Brambilla: In this time marked by too much violence, it seems to me that consecrated life is called in a special way to deepen and live out daily the challenge of peace, understood in the sense that the Holy Father never ceases to propose to us. It’s a challenge that includes a call to cultivate and liberate what is most human in us: compassion, mercy, and the choice not to respond to violence with violence, but to break the deadly cycle of evil by responding with gentle firmness, even in the face of provocations of arrogance, domination, and aggression, in their most obvious or most insidious forms.
In this year's message for World Peace Day, Pope Leo XIV noted that the disciples were disconcerted by Jesus' nonviolent response: "a path that they all, Peter first among them, contested; yet the Master asked them to follow this path to the end. [...] The peace of the risen Jesus is unarmed, because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political and social circumstances. Christians must together bear prophetic witness to this novelty, mindful of the tragedies in which they have too often been complicit."
I believe that this appeal from the Pope can become for us, as consecrated persons, a real invitation to let blossom in our hearts, in our communities, in our relationships, in the places and situations where we find ourselves, that “wild peace” of which the pontiff spoke in his Urbi et Orbi message last Christmas: not a tamed, “manufactured” peace, but a peace that lives and vibrates, restless, in the deepest fibers of our being, and which asks to be freed, to be resurrected, with its power that is both overwhelming and very humble.
The power of pierced Love, capable of rising up, of resurrecting, of standing up, indomitable and tender. The power of forgiveness, compassion, and mercy that the darkness of evil cannot break, extinguish, or defeat.
“Return to the heart”
How has the beginning of Leo XIV's pontificate influenced the priorities of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life, and what concrete directions are emerging for the future of religious communities?
Sr. Brambilla: We had the opportunity to meet Leo XIV in person during the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, which was held in Rome from October 8 to 12, 2025. It involved the entire dicastery, alongside thousands of consecrated men and women from around the world. In his address to the participants, the Holy Father offered several evocative images that can guide us on our journey.
He reminded us of the importance of being rooted in Christ: “United with Him, and in Him, your little lights become like the tracing of a luminous path in the great project of peace and salvation that God has for humanity. That is why I address to you, daughters and sons of Founders and Foundresses, a warm exhortation to ‘return to the heart,’ as the place where you can rediscover the spark that animated the beginnings of your history, when those who preceded you were given a specific mission, which is not finished and which is entrusted to you today.”
I find the image of these little lights, which together form a luminous path, very beautiful and evocative. Yes, none of us, either as individuals or as Institutes, is a “great” light. The Light is Christ. Smallness belongs to us, as creatures aware of our fragility loved by God, in which a ray of His light can be reflected. We are called not to shine alone, but to unite our little lights, to walk together.
Rediscover the spark
Sr. Brambilla: His invitation to “return to the heart” to rediscover “the spark” is also very significant. It is an encouragement to remember and to become part of the great river of the history of our own Institute, of the Church, and of humanity, in order to rediscover the unique and original spiritual heritage we have received: the charism that animates the life of an Institute of Consecrated Life or a Society of Apostolic Life, and which vibrates in the heart of each of its members.
The Holy Father then explicitly invited us to reflect on another essential theme: that of synodality. I believe that these calls from the Pope chart a clear and exciting path for us.
Has the new Pope already visited your dicastery?
Sr. Brambilla: The Pope has not yet visited our dicastery, but we hope to welcome him among us soon!
The first female prefect of a dicastery
Your appointment as the first female prefect in January 2025 is a powerful sign. How was your arrival in this position received by the Curia and by religious congregations around the world?
Sr. Brambilla: I believe that Pope Francis' choice is part of an increasingly synodal, open, inclusive, dialogical, and deeply evangelical path for the Church. Within the dicastery, where I had been secretary for a year when the pontiff appointed me prefect, I found a truly fraternal and sisterly welcome; the same was true in the world of consecrated life.
I still consider myself very new, a kind of “beginner” within the Roman Curia and the dicastery, and I’m learning a lot from many people, to whom I’m immensely grateful. I’m gradually trying to immerse myself in the flow of history, to grasp its dynamics, its Life, to allow myself to be questioned, to welcome the questions that arise in me and to make them a subject of reflection and dialogue with my companions on the journey, on various occasions and in different contexts.
Women are a gift
One year later, what signs can be observed within the Curia regarding the presence of women? What changes do you feel have gradually taken place?
Sr. Brambilla: Shortly after beginning my service as secretary of the dicastery (December 2023), I was struck by Pope Francis' homily on January 1, 2024, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and World Day of Peace:
"The Church needs Mary in order to recover her own feminine face, to resemble more fully the woman, Virgin and Mother, who is her model and perfect image (cf. Lumen Gentium, 63), to make space for women and to be 'generative' through a pastoral ministry marked by concern and care, patience and maternal courage. The world, too, needs to look to mothers and to women in order to find peace, to emerge from the spiral of violence and hatred, and once more see things with genuinely human eyes and hearts. Every society needs to accept the gift that is woman, every woman: to respect, defend and esteem women, in the knowledge that whosoever harms a single woman profanes God, who was 'born of a woman.'"
I truly believe that for peace to germinate, grow, and mature in the heart of each person, between us, between peoples, in the world, in creation, it needs the fertility of a primordial soil, an indispensable matrix: the healthy, good, trusting, respectful, reverent, tender, and living relationship between man and woman.
