In a move that expands African representation in one of the Holy See’s principal departments, Pope Leo has appointed two Nigerian Catholic leaders to key roles within the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.
The appointments were announced alongside those of three other African clerics, according to a report by Fides News Agency.
Among the new appointees is Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins of Lagos, who will serve as a member of the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches).
This specific department oversees global missionary efforts and the establishment of new local Churches.
Additionally, Father Wenceslaus C. Madu, C.M.F., the Vice-Chancellor of the Claretian University of Nigeria in Nekede, has been named as a consultor to the same Dicastery.
Other African religious leaders appointed as members of the Dicastery include Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, OFM Cap, Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda, Cameroon.
Furthermore, Archbishop François Sylla of Conakry, Guinea, was designated as a consultor.
These new selections strengthen the presence of African leadership within the Dicastery for Evangelization, the body responsible for guiding the Catholic Church’s missionary activities and fostering the growth of new particular Churches across the globe.
