Pope Leo XIV has appointed the Italian Salesian woman religious, Alessandra Smerilli, F.M.A., as prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, making her the first woman to head this major Vatican office. Sister Smerilli, a member of the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, served as secretary of the dicastery since 2021. The dicastery covers such global issues as justice, peace, the economy, the environment, sustainable development and artificial intelligence.

At the same time, he appointed Cardinal Fabio Baggio, a member of the Scalabrini order and previously the undersecretary of the same dicastery, as its pro-prefect with special responsibility for the Laudato Si’ Higher Education Center, part of the Borgo Laudato Si’ project at Castel Gandolfo. Furthermore, he has named a Slovak priest, Msgr. Jozef Barlaš, as secretary of the dicastery; he was formerly its undersecretary. All three appointments, announced by the Vatican at midday, June 30, take effect on Sept. 1.

Sister Smerilli succeeds Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., who has led that office since April 2022 and will turn 80, the age of retirement, on July 18. Her name had long been mentioned as a possible successor to the Jesuit cardinal who was a close confidant to Pope Francis throughout his pontificate and now has a similar role with Pope Leo XIV.

Sister Alessandra, as she is commonly known in the Vatican, is now the third woman to head a major Vatican dicastery. The first to be appointed to the top post of prefect was Simona Brambilla, M.C., who Pope Francis appointed as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life on Jan. 6, 2025. The second was Maria Montserrat Alvarado, a Mexican-American lay woman and president of EWTN News, whom Pope Leo appointed head of Vatican communications on June 2; she will take up that post on Nov. 1.

Today’s announcement is the clearest indication yet that Pope Leo is following the path opened by Pope Francis and decreed in “Praedicate Evangelium,” his constitution for the reform of the Roman Curia, which opened senior Vatican positions to non-clerics, including women.

When Pope Francis appointed Sister Smerilli secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in August 2021, she became the highest-ranking woman official in the Roman Curia. Today, Pope Leo has appointed her to the top post in that office.

Commenting on the appointment of his successor, Cardinal Czerny told America in comments also published on the dicastery’s website: “Sister Alessandra’s appointment as Prefect of this Dicastery represents a recognition of her leadership. She combines the critical rigor of an economist with the Salesian spirituality of caring for young people and those most in need. Everyone appreciates her great willingness. She embodies a truly inclusive approach, ensuring that no one is left behind.”

In a further comment on the dicastery’s website, the cardinal underlined her crucial contribution to the dicastery’s life, first as coordinator of its Covid-19 commission and then from 2022 as secretary—“a role comparable to that of C.E.O.” in which she helped to completely rethink and reorganize the structure of the dicastery.

Sister Smerilli was born in Vasto, a small city close to the Adriatic coast of Italy, in 1974. She studied economics before joining the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, more commonly known as the Sisters of Don Bosco. After her religious profession, she continued her economic studies and gained a doctorate in political economy from Rome’s La Sapienza state university and another in economics from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.

The Salesian sister became a professor of political economy at the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium in Rome.

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed her a councilor of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, and in March 2020, named her as coordinator of the economy task force of the Vatican commission for Covid-19.

Pope Francis also appointed her to the Synod on Young People in October 2018 and named her as a consultor to the synod of bishops in 2019. 

She will now lead a dicastery of around 80 women and men from different countries. According to its website, the work of the dicastery is divided into three programmatic sections (Listening and Dialogue; Research and Reflection; Communication and Restitution), aimed at more effectively supporting service to particular churches and the universal church.

In a comment on her appointment published on the dicastery’s website, Sister Alessandra said: 

I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Holy Father for the trust he accords me with this appointment. I welcome this service with joy and willingness, I am convinced that the Dicastery has a fundamental role in supporting the Church’s evangelizing mission through listening, dialogue, and collaboration. I would also like to express sincere appreciation to Cardinal Michael Czerny, for the valuable work done in recent years at the helm of the Dicastery, and for the availability and witness with which he has been able to accompany this journey. I entrust this new assignment to Mary, so that she may guide me to live it with faithfulness, humility and a spirit of service.

The appointments to the Dicastery for Integral Human Development came amid a flurry of appointments published by the Vatican today. Pope Leo named the Argentine monsignor Lucio Ruiz, until now secretary of the Dicastery for Communication, as the new secretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, a Vatican ministry also known as the Office of the Papal Almoner. Monsignor Ruiz, who will take office on Sept. 1, will work alongside the Spanish Augustinian archbishop, Luis Marín de San Martín, the papal almoner, whom Leo appointed as prefect in March 2026. The dicastery carries out works of assistance and aid on behalf of the pope to those in extreme poverty in various parts of the world.

Leo also appointed the Italian monsignor Marco Mellino to be secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts; he was previously joint secretary of this office but also served as secretary to the Council of Cardinal Advisors (known as the C9) of Pope Francis, and was involved in the drafting of “Praedicate Evangelium.”

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.