Pope Leo’s Right Hand Woman: Sr. Nathalie, the Most Powerful Woman in the Catholic Church

One of Pope Leo’s top advisers is unlike any the Vatican has ever seen.

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Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing essays that introduce to the life and formation of Pope Leo and the people he trusts most at the start of his pontificate.

Today, we turn to Sr. Nathalie Becquart — the most powerful woman in the Catholic Church (outside of Mary, the Mother of God!) and a neighbor of Leo’s in Rome, whose leadership at the Synod of Bishops will help shape how this papacy governs.

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Outside of Mary, the Mother of God, no woman today shapes how the Catholic Church governs itself more than Sr. Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops — the first woman ever appointed to that post.

After Pope Francis changed the synod rules in 2023 to allow non-bishops, including women, to be voting members, she became the first woman to cast a binding vote at a synod.

She runs the levers of power for the body, setting the agenda, knitting together global consultations, and translating the Francis-Leo synodality agenda from theory into practice.

After his election on May 8, Pope Leo confirmed Sr. Nathalie Becquart — his Vatican next-door neighbor for the past three years — in her post, signaling continuity in their shared governing approach: authority rooted in listening, collaboration, and disciplined discernment.

Becquart’s résumé explains the confidence. A native of Fontainebleau, she earned a degree in management with a focus on entrepreneurship at HEC Paris and later specialized in ecclesiology at Boston College.

She helped lead the 2018 Synod on Young People and served as a consultor to the 2019 Pan-Amazon Synod before Pope Francis named her undersecretary in 2021, a role historically reserved for bishops.

What does the job look like day to day?