Sister Pietra Luana (Etra) Modica, a Scalabrinian missionary, is the new general secretary of the Pontifical Urbaniana University. The official appointment was signed today, September 30, 2021, by Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokin Tagle, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and Grand Chancellor of the University. It is the first time since its founding in 1627 that the position has been designated to a woman. “I thank Cardinal Tagle and the congregation of the Scalabrinian Missionary Sisters – explains Sister Etra – I bring in my history the charism at the service of migrants because the formation is one of the keys to integration and new opportunities also for the religious women and men who come from different countries and study at the Urbaniana University.” The University was founded in the seventeenth century with a profound purpose: to form missionaries and thus enter into relation with the peoples of the world. Basically, even then, a global observatory was created in Rome capable of pointing to educational paths to strengthen dialogue and interchange. “In communion with the general councilors, with all the Scalabrinian Sisters and in communion with the Scalabrinian Family, I thank Cardinal Tagle for the appointment of Sister Etra Luana Modica – says Sister Neusa de Fatima Mariano, general superior of the Scalabrinian Sisters – that is for us a recognition of our mission with migrants and refugees. We welcome it as a service to the Church, with an international view”. Sister Etra Modica has vast experience in the field of formation and the pastoral care of migrants, having held positions within her Congregation and in ecclesial organizations.
