Director and Researcher
Law graduate from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and attorney, with an extensive academic career at UC. She is a professor in the Department of Canon Law and has served as its director. In 2014, she joined the Ethics and Disciplinary Council of the Faculty of Law, and between 2015 and 2018 she served as Secretary General of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
She has been a researcher and member of the Center’s Board of Directors since 2006, except for the period she served in the Office of the Secretary General. Additionally, she is a member of the Faculty Council.
Between 1995 and 2002, she served as auditor of the National Ecclesiastical Court of Appeals, under the Chilean Episcopal Conference. From 2003 to 2015, she was internal advisor to the Legal Department of the Archdiocese of Santiago. From its creation in 2011 until 2015, she was a member of the National Council for the Prevention of Abuse and Support for Victims of the Episcopal Conference.
She has participated in numerous national and international academic meetings, as speaker and coordinator, contributing primarily in the field of religious freedom.
She is a member of the following scientific societies: the Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom, the Chilean Association of Canon Law, and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS).
Coordinator and Researcher
Graduate in legal and social sciences from Universidad Diego Portales and attorney. She holds a diploma in the specialty “Family and Society” (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2010) and in the specialty “Church and Law: Updates in Canon Law, 4th Edition, 2012” (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 2012). In 2011, she collaborated in organizing the II Conference of the International Consortium for Law and Religion held in Santiago, and since 2013 she has been coordinator and researcher at the UC Center for Law and Religion. Between 2018 and 2025, she has been a researcher and editor of the Latin America and Caribbean section of the Annual Report on Religious Freedom in the World by the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
Researcher and Director of the Latin American Journal of Law and Religion
Graduate and Doctor in Canon Law from the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome; and law graduate from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Attorney.
She has developed her academic career since 2000 at the Faculty of Law of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and during certain periods has taught at other institutions such as Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción and the Major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Santiago.
Since joining UC, she has taught the Minimum Course in Canon Law for undergraduate students of the Faculty and elective courses at both the undergraduate and doctoral levels to disseminate studies known in comparative law as Ecclesiastical Law of the State or Law and Religion. She currently works full-time at the Faculty as a tenured faculty member in the category of associate professor. She was director of the Center for Law and Religion from its creation (2005) until 2022. She is currently director of the Department of Canon Law, as she was during the period from 2008 to 2016.
Throughout her career, she has actively participated in various institutions such as the Latin American Consortium for Religious Freedom (of which she was president from 2009 to 2013) and the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (of which she was president from 2016 to 2022). She was president of the National Council for the Prevention of Abuse and Support for Victims of the Chilean Episcopal Conference between 2018 and 2023, and since that same year she has been a member of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life of the Holy See.
Professor Celis has been honored with the Bellarmino Award (PUG), the “Award for Recognition of Teaching Excellence 2012 General Category,” granted by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and has been nominated twice among the 100 leading women of Chile (2007 and 2014) by the Club of Women Entrepreneurs and the newspaper El Mercurio.
Researcher
She holds a law degree and is an attorney from the Pontifical Catholic University. Between 2016 and 2018, she worked as an attorney in the Legal Department of the Archdiocese of Santiago, and between 2019 and 2023 she served as an attorney at the Ministry of Education and the Superintendency of Education.
She is currently a lecturer at the UC Faculty of Law, teaching Canon Law and the Legal Clinic, specifically in the Public Law and Freedom of Religion section, and is also a researcher at the Latin America and the Caribbean Observatory on Freedom of Religion of the UC Center for Law and Religion.
Coordinator, Latin American Journal of Law and Religion
Master’s degree in Systematic Theology (2021) and Bachelor’s degree in Pastoral Studies and Humanities (2014) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile; Bachelor’s degree in Education from the Catholic University of Maule (2005). Lecturer. He holds a postgraduate diploma in “Educational Management” (2008) from the Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences.
Since 2005, he has worked as a teacher and pastoral coordinator in various educational institutions, foundations, and social and ecclesial institutions. Between 2015 and 2025, he served at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile as Executive Secretary of the Center for the Study of Religion (2015–2018) and later as Head of Continuing Education and Outreach (2018–2025). He has also carried out coordination and training work in the Vicariate for Pastoral Ministry of the Archdiocese of Santiago.
In 2020, he joined the Center for Law and Religion as a collaborator, and since 2021 he has been a researcher responsible for coordinating the Latin American Journal of Law and Religion. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Education at the University of Deusto (Spain) and is the provincial coordinator for comprehensive safeguarding, respectful treatment, and safe environments for Escolapios Emaús (Spain).
Doctor in International Human Rights Law (J.S.D.) from the University of Notre Dame, United States, and Master of Law (LLM) from Harvard University, United States. She was a professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Los Andes and is currently a professor at Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America.
Law graduate UC, attorney, adjunct instructor at the Faculty of Law UC.
Academic Member
Doctor (2018) and Master (2015) in History from the University of Los Andes and Bachelor of Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (2008).
He has served as an instructor and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Law of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, teaching the courses History of Law and History of Chilean Legal, Political, and Social Institutions. He has also collaborated on research projects in the area of Private International Law.
Since 2022, he has served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Universidad San Sebastián, teaching courses in History and Philosophy. In addition, at that institution he is Secretary of the Law Review and Secretary of the Graduate Studies Unit of the Faculty of Law.