Pope Francis has made a historic amendment allowing any ordinary Catholic baptized, male or female, to preside over most of the Vatican's departments, as part of a new constitution he issued to the Vatican's central administration "the Curia". For centuries these departments were headed by clergy, cardinals or bishops.
Pope Francis on Saturday issued a new constitution for the central administration of the Vatican known as the "curia" that recognizes that any baptized Catholic, including women, can head an administration in the Vatican.
Most departments in the Vatican are headed by clergy and, usually, cardinals.
One section of the constitution states that "any individual of the faithful may head a religion (circle of curia) or body" if the pope determines and appoints them qualified for the office.
The 1988 constitution stipulated that departments, with few exceptions, should be headed by a cardinal or bishop and assisted by a secretary, experts, and administrators.
The general constitution allows departments to have their own internal constitutions.
According to experts, the department of bishops and clergy, at least, will continue to be headed by men, because only men are authorized to be priests according to the Catholic Church.
Experts speculated that the Department of Consecrated Life, responsible for the religious order, which was now headed by a cardinal, might in the future be headed by a nun.
It took more than nine years to draft the new 54-page constitution. It will go into effect on the 5th of June. It would replace a constitution approved by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
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