Nun given high post in Church

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VATICAN CITY (Agence France-Presse) -- A woman for the first time obtained a senior post in the Roman Catholic Church yesterday when Sister Enrica Rosanna was appointed to the third highest position in the Vatican's ministry responsible for religious orders.

The 60-year-old Italian nun assumes the title of undersecretary for the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life.

The congregation is responsible for religious orders, both of men and of women, and for secular Roman Catholic institutes, dealing with issues relating to their oversight, discipline, studies, goods, rights and privileges.

Sister Enrica, a sociology professor who has been serving as head of the Salesian University in Rome, is the first woman to reach such high rank in a congregation, or Vatican ministry.

Each congregation is headed by a cardinal with a secretary as second-in-command.

Very few women hold high-ranking posts within the Vatican. Women cannot become priests in the Catholic Church despite repeated calls by a minority for this to be allowed. Just last week, however, the Church resolved another dispute by ruling that girls could be altar servers assisting the priests at Mass.

In March, Pope John Paul II appointed a U.S. woman professor, Mary Ann Glendon, to head a Vatican academy, the first time a woman had chaired such an important post within the church.

The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life is responsible for all aspects of consecrated life and has no territorial limits.

It was founded by Pope Sixtus V in 1586 with the title Sacred Congregation for Consultations about Regulars.

A 1988 apostolic assembly convened by Pope John Paul II changed the title to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.