A Commitment to Universality and to Life

In the photo, the two Undersecretaries are standing between the prefect, Card. Kevin Farrell, and the Secretary, Fr. Alexandre Awi

In the aftermath of the official beginning of their mandate in our Dicastery, the undersecretaries Linda Ghisoni and Gabriella Gambino have released their first statements about the mission to which each has been called by Pope Francis.

“The fact of being a laywoman, wife, and mother, aroused surprise and curiosity in some people who approached me in various ways after the publication of the nomination,” explains Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary for the Laity.

Gabriella Gambino, Undersecretary for Life, echoes her: “As a woman and mother of a large family, I see the ‘sign’ of a real mission at the service of the universal Church, aimed at protecting and above all promoting an authentic ‘culture of life and for human life,’ from conception to natural death.”

In a complicated moment of history like the current one, Undersecretary Gambino continues, referring to the recent approval of the Italian law on the end of life, “we have before us new challenges, which not only require that we be able to ‘strongly’ support the reasons for life but, above all, oblige us to be and work for a united Church, capable of the spirit of communion that can make us effective witnesses of a greater love, and so arouse in the men and especially in the women of our time a steadfast trust in the inestimable value of human life.”

Regarding the responsibilities connected with the new task, Undersecretary Ghisoni hopes “with the help of the Lord, to honor through her daily commitment the universal breath of the Church, which in this part of the curia is particularly perceptible. For my part—she concludes—I believe that the challenge and the opportunity that await us consist in cooperating, each one faithful to his or her state of life, with the same, enriching and developing the personal vocation of all.”