Pope Francis has named Sabina Alkire, a female Anglican priest, to the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. Alkire, the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, has been “ordained as deacon and then worker-priest in the Anglican Church,” according to the Academy’s biography of her.

According to the statutes of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, “academicians are appointed by the Holy Father on the basis of their competencies in the social sciences and of their moral integrity”—and thus nothing prevents the appointment of distinguished non-Catholics and non-Christians who meet this minimum standard.

(The Pontifical Academy for Life has different, higher standards for appointment, and thus some of its recent appointments have given rise to perplexity and anguish. According to its statutes, members are chosen “on the basis of their academic qualifications, proven professional integrity, professional expertise and faithful service in the defence and promotion of the right to life of every human person.”)