María Lía Zervino (born 1951 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

) is an

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

consecrated virgin In the Catholic Church, a consecrated virgin is a woman who has been consecrated by the church to a life of perpetual virginity as a bride of Christ. Consecrated virgins are consecrated by the diocesan bishop according to the approved liturgical ...

and a sociologist. Being a member of the ''Asociación de Vírgenes Consagradas Servidoras'' ("Association of Consecrated Virgin Servants") she serves since 2013 as president of the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, an

Association of the Christian faithful In the Catholic Church, an association of the Christian faithful or simply association of the faithful (Latin: ''consociationes christifidelium'') sometimes called a public association of the faithful, is a group of baptized persons, clerics or l ...

which was erected by the Holy See in 2006.

Life

María Lía Zervino studied at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina where she received her PhD in sociology. In the Argentinian Diocese of Mar del Plata she was head of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Argentine Bishops' Conference. She is also a consultant to the

Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, previously named Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), is a dicastery of the Roman Curia, erected by Pope Paul VI on 19 May 1964 as the Secretariat for Non-Christians, and renamed by Pope ...

and teaches at the Argentine

Theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

Faculty in

. In 2019, she was elected to the World Council of Religions for Peace. In March 2021, she wrote an open letter to Pope Francis in which she – besides thanking him for his statements in ''

Laudato si' ''Laudato si (''Praise Be to You'') is the second encyclical of Pope Francis. The encyclical has the subtitle "on care for our common home". In it, the pope critiques consumerism and irresponsible development, laments environmental degradatio ...

'', ''

Amoris laetitia ''Amoris laetitia'' (''The Joy of Love'') is a post- synodal apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis addressing the pastoral care of families. Dated 19 March 2016, it was released on 8 April 2016. It follows the Synods on the Family held in 201 ...

'' and ''

Fratelli tutti ''Fratelli tutti'' (''All Brothers'') is the third encyclical of Pope Francis, subtitled "on fraternity and social friendship". In the document, Francis states that the way the COVID-19 pandemic was managed by world countries has shown a failur ...

'' – expressed her concern that "not enough progress has been made in taking advantage of the wealth of women who make up a large part of the

People of God ''People of God'' ( he, עם האלהים) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the Israelites and used in Christianity to refer to Christians. In the Bible Hebrew Bible and Old Testament In the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, the Isr ...

". Zervino also wrote about her "dream of a Church that has suitable women as judges in all the courts in which matrimonial cases are processed, in the formation teams of each

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

and for exercising ministries such as listening, spiritual direction, pastoral health care, care for the planet, defence of

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

, etc., for which, by our nature, women are equally or sometimes better prepared than men." On 13 July 2022,

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

elected her as a member of the Vatican's

Dicastery for Bishops The Dicastery for Bishops, formerly named Congregation for Bishops (), is the department of the Roman Curia that oversees the selection of most new bishops. Its proposals require papal approval to take effect, but are usually followed. The Dicas ...

. Alongside with two religious sisters,

Raffaella Petrini Raffaella Petrini (born 15 January 1969) is an Italian religious sister of the congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist and a Roman Curia official. Biography She was born in Rome on 15 January 1969 and graduated with a degree in Po ...

and

Yvonne Reungoat Yvonne Reungoat FMA (born 14 January 1945 in Plouénan, France) is a French religious sister, who is a former Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. In July 2022, she has been appointed as a member in the Vatican's Dicaste ...

, Zervino belongs to the first three women to be elected as members of the dicastery, which is responsible for identifying new, future bishops.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zervino, María Lía 1951 births Living people People from Buenos Aires Women officials of the Roman Curia