First Female Under Secretary of Justice and Peace Council

Vatican City: January 21, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has released a communique concerning today's appointment of Flaminia Giovanelli as its new under secretary. The communique is signed by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson and Bishop Mario Toso S.D.B., respectively president and secretary of the same dicastery.

The new under secretary is a graduate in political science from the University of Rome and holds diplomas in library science and religious studies. She began working in the then Pontifical Justice and Peace Commission in 1974 where she has since followed matters relating to development, poverty and work in the context of Church social doctrine. She is an expert in the development and labour policies of the International Labour Organisation, the Council of Europe, the European Union, ECOSOC and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

Flaminia Giovanelli, says the communique, "is the first woman to hold the position of under secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Before her the Australian lay woman Rosemary Goldie held the same post in the Pontifical Council for the Laity from 1966 to 1976, while a religious, Sr. Enrica Rosanna F.M.A., is currently under secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

"The appointment of Ms Giovanelli", the text adds, "confirms the great trust the Church and the Holy Father Benedict XVI place in women. In his time, Venerable Pope John Paul II also underlined the need for a 'fuller and meaningful participation of women in the development of society'".