This is Edith Stein, a saint who has inspired many other women in the Church. She was murdered in the gas chambers of the Auschwitz concentration camp on August 9, 1942.
Orthodox Jewish by birth, she later became an atheist. However, after reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Ávila, she converted to Christianity and became a Carmelite nun, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
SILVIA MAS
Professor, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
We live in a world of great contrasts, a lot of tragedy, and great difficulty in approaching God. Yet we see a woman who receives a very strong light in the middle of so many contradictions, and she brings us hope—showing that it is possible to find Him. She is a very interesting figure. She also connects cultures; she is a bridge between Judaism and Christianity, between the Central European world and the world between the wars. There are many parallels, and she seems to me to be a truly inspiring model.
When Hitler came to power, Stein wrote to Pope Pius XI asking him to speak out against the persecution of Jews in Germany and Europe.
She became the first Catholic martyr of Jewish origin to be canonized. She was beatified and later canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II.
There are many other women that stand out as role models within the Church:
SILVIA MAS
Professor, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
People often think that the role of women in the Church must be an institutional one. But I believe the role of women in the Church is the role of a Christian woman who transmits a set of values. In fact, when John Paul II named the female patron saints of Europe, he said: “We want a feminine face of the Church represented by patronesses, because until that moment we only had male patrons.
Women began to occupy positions of responsibility in the Vatican under Pope Francis' papacy in particular, including roles that, until then, had been reserved for men.
POPE FRANCIS
Women, equal to men, work for the common good with the intuition that women have. I have seen that in the Vatican, every time a woman comes in to do a job, things improve.
For example, Sister Raffaella Petrini has been the governor of the Vatican since March 2025—essentially the equivalent of a 'mayor'.
Another example is Simona Brambilla, the first woman to serve as prefect of a dicastery.
And among laywomen, there is Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums.
