FRIENDS IN THE VATICAN

 

The Franciscans,  who we have been close to for 50 years in Connecticut, as well as here on Shaw, now represent us in the Vatican.

Pope Francis has appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, as Secretary-General of the Governorate of Vatican City State. Since 2005 she has served as an official at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. 

Born in Rome on 15 January 1969, she holds a degree in political science from the Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli (LUISS) and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), where she is currently a professor. 

Sr. Raffaella is the first woman and non-clergy member to be secretary general of the Vatican’s governorate.

The appointment makes her one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican, alongside Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, “ad interim” secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, and Sr. Natalie Becquart, an under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops.

Sister Rafaella replaces Bishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, who was promoted to president, effective Oct. 1.

 Sister Raffaella is also a professor of the economy of welfare and sociology at Rome’s Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum), where she received a doctorate in social sciences.

She also has a master’s degree in organization behavior from the University of Hartford in Connecticut.