BREAKING NEWS

Pope names women to bishops advisory committee for first time

Pope Francis has named three women, two nuns and a laywoman, to a previously all-male committee that advises him in selecting the world's bishop's, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

He had disclosed the decision in an exclusive interview with Reuters earlier this month, explaining he wanted to give women more top-level positions in the Holy See.

The three women are sister Raffaella Petrini, currently the deputy governor of the Vatican City, French nun Yvonne Reungoat and laywoman Maria Lia Zervino, head of the association of women's catholic organizations UMOFC.