(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 03.18.2026).- While much of the world marked International Women’s Day with renewed calls to close persistent gender gaps, an unlikely case study emerged from Vatican City: a state where men and women receive identical pay for identical work.
According to veteran journalist Gudrun Sailer, who has spent years working within the Vatican media system, the absence of a gender pay gap is not the result of a targeted equality policy but rather a structural feature of the Holy See’s administrative machinery. Salaries are determined by rigid, standardized scales tied to job classification, seniority and function—leaving no room for gender-based discrepancies. In this narrow but measurable sense, the Vatican could be described as the only country in the world without a gender pay gap.
By the end of 2024, the Vatican employed nearly 5,500 people, of whom more than 1,300 were women—just under a quarter of the workforce. Many occupy mid- to upper-level roles, particularly in administrative, cultural and communications sectors. Over the past decade, especially during the pontificate of Pope Francis, women have also begun to break into positions that were once unthinkable within the Roman Curia.
A landmark moment came in January 2025, when Sister Simona Brambilla was appointed prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. It was the first time a woman had been placed at the head of a Vatican dicastery. Brambilla had already served nearly two years as secretary—effectively the second-ranking official—before assuming leadership.
Her appointment, however, also revealed the institutional caution that continues to shape reform. Alongside her, Francis named Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime as pro-prefect, a newly created role that raised questions about the distribution of authority within the dicastery.
In March 2025, Francis named Sister Raffaella Petrini president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, effectively making her the head of the city-state’s executive administration. The historical resonance was striking: the last time a woman exercised comparable authority over papal territories dates back to the Renaissance, when Lucrezia Borgia briefly governed the Papal States under her father, Pope Alexander VI.
Other breakthroughs have followed different paths. Sister Nathalie Becquart became the first woman to hold full voting rights in the Synod of Bishops after her appointment as undersecretary in 2021—a change not of doctrine but of institutional practice, reflecting a broader rethinking of participation within the Church’s consultative bodies.
The trajectory has not halted with the end of Francis’ pontificate. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, has signaled continuity. One of his early significant appointments was that of Sister Tiziana Merletti as secretary of the same dicastery once led by Brambilla. The choice is not incidental. Women constitute roughly three-quarters of all members of religious orders worldwide, making that department a natural testing ground for expanded female leadership.
Leo XIV’s approach appears rooted in pastoral experience as much as in institutional logic. During his years as bishop of Chiclayo, in Peru, he promoted the involvement of laywomen in organizational and pastoral leadership, guided by principles described as shared responsibility and dignity. In practice, this meant moving beyond the traditional expectation that women serve primarily in supportive roles, toward a model in which they actively shape ecclesial life.
Beyond formal structures, networks of support have also begun to emerge. The association Donne in Vaticano, founded in 2016 and open to all women working for the Pope, has developed into a space for cultural, social and spiritual initiatives, as well as mutual assistance. Sailer, one of its founding members, remains involved in its leadership. As the group approaches its tenth anniversary, it is seeking a papal audience, a symbolic gesture that would underscore both recognition and visibility.
The broader ecclesial context adds further momentum. Consultations linked to recent synodal processes—mirrored in other Christian traditions such as the Evangelical Lutheran assemblies held between 2021 and 2024—have consistently highlighted a desire among the faithful for greater female participation in Church governance. While debates over ordained ministry remain unresolved and vary widely across countries, the administrative sphere has become the primary arena for change within Catholicism.
With information from Dom Radio
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