Simona Brambilla (born 27 March 1965) is an Italian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

nun and missionary who led the women's branch of the

Consolata Missionaries The Institute of Consolata Missionaries ( la, Institutum Missionum a Consolata), commonly called the Consolata Missionaries is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. Its members add the nominal I.M.C. after their ...

from 2011 to 2023 and became secretary of the

Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, formerly called Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL; la, Congregatio pro Institutis Vitae Consecratae et Soci ...

in October 2023, making her one of the highest-ranking women in the Roman Curia.

Biography

Brambilla was born in

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of M ...

, in Lombardy, on 27 March 1965. She obtained a diploma in nursing 1986 and worked at the L. Mandic Hospital in

Merate Merate ( Brianzöö: ) is a municipality of 14,872 inhabitants in the province of Lecco, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It is served by Cernusco-Merate railway station. History The name ''Melatum'' appeared for the first time i ...

(

Province of Lecco The Province of Lecco ( it, provincia di Lecco; Lecchese: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lecco. As of 2017, the province had a population of 337,211 on a surface of divided into 85 ''comuni'' (muni ...

). She entered the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of Consolata in 1988 and made her first religious profession in 1991. She received a licentiate in psychology from the Institute of Psychology of the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school (pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

in 1998. Beginning in 1999, after making her final profession, she was responsible for youth ministry at the Macua Xirima Study Center in Maua,

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...

. She taught from 2002 to 2006 at the Gregorian's Institute of Psychology and earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

in psychology there in 2008, with a thesis on evangelization and inculturation in Mozambique. She served as general councilor from 2005 to 2011. She was elected to a six-year term as superior general of the women's branch of the

on 7 June 2011 and elected to a second term in 2017, which concluded in May 2023. Pope Francis chose her to participate in the 2023 Synod of Bishops on Synodality. On 8 July 2019,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

named her and six others were named the first women members of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. On 7 October 2023, Pope Francis appointed her secretary of that Dicastery. She is the second woman to hold this rank in a dicastery of the Roman Curia after

Alessandra Smerilli Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A. (born on 14 November 1974) is an Italian economist, academic, and Catholic religious sister. She has a post-PhD ( it. ''docente'') degree in political economy and statistics, obtained from the Pontifical Faculty o ...

at the

Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (''Dicasterium ad integram humanam progressionem fovendam'' in Latin) is a dicastery of the Roman curia. The Vatican announced the creation of the dicastery on 31 August 2016 and it becam ...

, while two other women hold the same title at other departments (not dicasteries),

Nathalie Becquart Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ (born in 1969) is a French Catholic religious sister and member of the Congregation of Xavières. She was appointed a consultor to the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church in 2019 and named one of its undersecretaries ...

at the Synod of Bishops and

Raffaella Petrini Raffaella Petrini (born 15 January 1969) is an Italian religious sister of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and a Roman Curia official. Biography She was born in Rome on 15 January 1969 and graduated with a degree in Po ...

at the

Governorate of Vatican City State The Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State ( la, Pontificia Commissio pro Civitate Vaticana, it, Pontificia Commissione per lo Stato della Città del Vaticano;) is the legislative body of Vatican City. It consists of a president, who also ...

Selected writings

* Insights from the experience of a women's missionary congregation in dialogue with Teresa of Lisieux

References

;Additional sources * * On the Macua Xirima Study Center and Mozambique. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brambilla, Simona Living people 1965 births 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Women officials of the Roman Curia Superiors general Italian Roman Catholic missionaries Female Roman Catholic missionaries Members of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life Pontifical Gregorian University alumni People from Monza