(ANSA) - Vatican City, December 20 - Pope Francis has named Barbara Jatta as the new director of the Vatican Museums, the Vatican said Tuesday.

The appointment is effective as of January 1 next year.

Jatta, 54, will be the first woman to fill the position.

She was appointed deputy director of the Vatican Museums in June, after being in charge of the Prints Cabinet at the Vatican Library.

Jatta, who is married and has three children, started working at the Vatican Library in 1996.

She has been a professor of history of graphic arts at the University of Naples since 1994.

