Female Prefects: Leo XIV's Separates Power of Governance from Holy Orders
Writing on X.com on June 2, Spanish diocesan priest and theology professor Jaime Mercant Simó argued that, at a theological level, it is not appropriate for even a theologically less importat dicastery, such as the Dicastery for Communication, to be headed by a layperson.
Rev. Mercant noted that the Roman Curia is not merely an administrative structure. Every prefect of a dicastery acts with “vicarious power” in the name of the pope.
“Mrs. Alvarado will exercise effective administrative jurisdiction and will have, albeit in an internal manner, real power over the bishops, priests, and religious who work in that dicastery,” he wrote.
He argued that the appointment represents a separation between the power of governance and Holy Orders, from which the Church's munus regendi (“office of governance”), hierarchically ordered, naturally derives.
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