Pope Francis fills No. 2 position at Governorate of Vatican City State

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Vatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 12:45 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis has named two secretaries-general to serve under Sister Raffaella Petrini, FSE, in the Governorate of the Vatican City State, giving the Vatican’s first woman president “the power to dispose and confer… specific competencies or particular tasks” on the appointees.

The Vatican announced on Tuesday that Francis had appointed Archbishop Emilio Nappa and layman Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi to serve as joint secretaries-general of the governing body of the Vatican City State.

The nomination follows the pope’s appointment of Franciscan Sister Petrini as president of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and president of the Governorate of Vatican City State on Feb. 15, after she served as secretary-general of the governorate for just over three years.

Petrini, who will assume her new roles on March 1, is the first woman and non-cardinal to hold the positions — making her one of the highest-ranking women ever in the Vatican.

In Tuesday’s announcement, the Vatican said Pope Francis had also granted Petrini “the power to dispose and confer, appropriately, on the aforementioned secretaries-general, specific competencies or particular tasks,” appearing to give her a carte blanche to choose the responsibilities of her now two righthand men.

According to Vatican law, the secretary-general assists the president in her functions and acts as her substitute in the case of absence or impediment. It is a five-year term. During a sede vacante, the period following the death or resignation of a pope until the election of a successor, the secretary-general “shall take care of the ordinary government of the office, and, following the provisions in force for the sede vacante, shall take care of its current affairs.”

The Vatican has said Pope Francis continues to carry out some light work duties while under hospital treatment for multiple respiratory infections, including double pneumonia. Though visits are extremely limited, the Vatican said on Tuesday that the pontiff had received Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his No. 2, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, in his hospital room on Feb. 24, his 11th day of hospitalization.

The first of the two new secretaries-general, Nappa has been president of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 2022 as well as adjunct secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

The 52-year-old from Naples, Italy, has a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and worked for a time in the general affairs section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

The second appointment, Puglisi-Alibrandi, has over a decade of experience in the governorate, most recently serving as vice secretary-general since 2021. The 58-year-old lawyer was previously head of the juridical office of the governorate.