Adjunct category

Pilar Río is Chilean, but after graduating as a journalist and working on the Arts and Letters supplement of the El Mercurio newspaper, she moved to Italy, where she lived in the Eternal City until her recent return to Chile, where she joined the faculty of the UC Theology Department (2025). In Rome, she began and continued her studies in theology (1984-2000): Bachelor’s degree in theology from the Faculty of Theology at the University of the Holy Cross (Rome), Master’s degree in theology from the Lateran University (John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Rome) and Doctorate in dogmatic theology from the University of the Holy Cross with a thesis on the ecclesiology of the German liturgist Odo Casel. His long stay in the center of Christianity has allowed him to interact with students and professors from all over the world and has given him a rich ecclesial and teaching experience.

Her doctoral thesis research introduced her to a new field of study and cultivated a dialogue between dogmatic theology on the Church and liturgical theology, which has resulted in two monographs: Church and Liturgy (2020) and Liturgy, Epiphany of the Church (2021), as well as various courses on liturgical ecclesiology in the Bachelor’s degree program specializing in liturgical theology.

Between 2000 and 2025, she pursued her academic career at the Faculty of Theology of the University of the Holy Cross, where she became a full professor of sacramental theology, and at the Institute of Liturgy of the same university, where she taught and was appointed deputy director of the center. Throughout her academic career, she has taught courses in Ecclesiology, Sacramental Theology of Marriage, Theology of the Sacraments in general, Christian Initiation, Liturgical Theology of Initiation, and Liturgical Ecclesiology. She has also participated in various interdisciplinary courses on ecclesial movements and new realities, organized by the Faculties of Canon Law and Theology at the University of the Holy Cross.