Enrica Rosanna

She became a professor of sociology and religion at the Pontifical Faculty of Education ("Auxilium") in Rome, run by the Salesian sisters, which is also the only pontifical institution dedicated to women's education.^[5] She was president of the Auxilium from 1980 to 1998, and she is now professor emerita.^[6] From 1970 to 1972 she was a guest lecturer at her undergraduate university in Turin. From 1973 on she became a visiting, associate, and full professor at three universities in Rome conducting research on religion in the service of pastoral care, including (besides the Auxilium), the Salesian Pontifical University, and the Pontifical Lateran University.^[4]

In 1996 she became a member of the so-called "commission of sages" set up by Luigi Berlinguer, then Italy's minister of public education.^[7][8] She was named an expert participant in three Rome synods in 1994 (synod for consecrated life), 1999 (synod for Europe), and 2001 (synod for bishops), and she came to know Pope John Paul II well because of this.^[3] She formally received John Paul II when he conducted a papal visit of the Auxilium in 2000.^[9] Before her appointment to high Vatican office, she served as rector of the papal faculty of education.^[10] On April 24, 2024, John Paul II appointed her as undersecretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL).^[11]

With Abbot Primate Notker Wolf, OSB she co-authored The Art of Leadership, a book its authors describe as focusing on "common mistakes that most people make and explain what it truly takes to become an effective leader in business, politics, school, and family life."^[10] Originally published in Italian, it was translated into English, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and Polish.^[12] She is also a well-published scholar of both articles and book chapters in her field of sociology.^[13]