Overview
- The Holy See announced Tuesday that Sister Alessandra Smerilli will become Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with the appointment effective on 1 September 2026.
- Smerilli, an economist and member of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, has served as the dicastery’s secretary since 2021 and will succeed Cardinal Michael Czerny upon his retirement.
- Cardinal Fabio Baggio was named pro-prefect and given special responsibility for the Vatican’s Laudato si' Higher Education Centre at Castel Gandolfo, and Monsignor Jozef Barlaš was appointed secretary.
- The leadership package keeps the dicastery’s work on migration, health care, charity, justice and care for creation steady while using a dual-prefect/pro-prefect arrangement to meet canonical expectations that senior Vatican leadership include ordained cardinals.
- The appointments continue a recent Vatican trend of promoting women into top management and could increase female representation in decision making, while raising questions about how the Holy See balances lay leadership with the Church’s rules on ordination and cardinalate roles.