For the first time in history, the Pope has appointed a woman to the Synod of Bishops.

The appointed is Nathalie Becquart, 52, a member of the Xavière Sisters, Missionaries of Jesus Christ, in France.

She will work as one of two new undersecretaries to the Synod, and will have voting rights in the body, which advises the pontiff and debates some of the most controversial issues in the Roman Catholic Church.

Sister Becquart has worked with the Synod as a consultant since 2019.

The body's secretary-general, Cardinal Mario Grech, said the appointment showed that "a door has opened.”

He noted that the decision reflects the Pope's desire "for a greater participation of women in the process of discernment and decision-making in the church".

The news comes less than a month after Pope Francis formally changed the law in the Church to allow women to administer communion and serve at the altar, although the decree stressed that ordained priesthood would remain open to men only.

Last year, meanwhile, the pontiff appointed six women to the council which oversees the Vatican's finances.

Who is Sr Nathalie Becquart 

According to the official website of the Vatican, Nathalie Becquart was born in 1969 in Fontainebleau, France.

She graduated from the Paris-based HEC School of Management with a Masters in Management with a specialization in Entrepreneurship in Jouy-en-Josas in 1992, and went on to study philosophy at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Between 1992-1993 she spent her volunteer year in Beirut, Lebanon, working as a Professor of Mathematics and French in a Catholic High School and taking philosophy and theology courses at ISSR-St Joseph Jesuit University of Beirut.

This was followed by two years working as a Consultant in a marketing and advertising agency for NGO’s and Christian organizations (EJC consulting) in Paris.

Nathalie Joined the Xaviere sisters, missionaries of Christ-Jesus (Apostolic Congregation of Ignatian Spirituality) in August 1995 and took her final vows in September 2005.

She has since worked in various roles including Spiritual Director for the Ignatian Youth Network in France National Coordinator of the scouting program for youth in poor urban multicultural areas, Scouts de France, among others.