Pope Leo XIV names Angolan Jesuit and Chilean theologian to Vatican development office

Pope Leo XIV named two new undersecretaries of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on November 5, 2026. They are Angolan Jesuit Father Avelino Chicoma Bundo Chico, until then head of office at the dicastery, and Chilean theologian Claudia Leal Luna, a professor at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome. Both now take the second-ranking posts at the dicastery, which is led by Sister Alessandra Smerilli, a Salesian religious sister, as prefect, with Cardinal Fabio Baggio as pro-prefect and Msgr. Jozef Barlaš as secretary. The appointments are part of a reorganization of the dicastery's leadership that began in September.

Avelino Chicoma: an African career in migration

Chico was born in Lobito, in the Angolan province of Benguela, on July 15, 1979. He entered the Society of Jesus in 2002, was ordained a priest on August 3, 2014, and made his perpetual profession on May 1, 2026. He earned a master's degree in social morality in 2018 and a doctorate in contemporary international migration and development cooperation in 2019.

He has worked at the dicastery since 2020, first as regional coordinator for Africa from 2020 to 2022, then as head of its Listening and Dialogue section from 2022 to 2025, and as head of office since 2025. On learning of his appointment, he thanked the pope and his superiors at the dicastery for their confidence in him, and summed up this new stage in three words: presence, commitment and witness.

He said the responsibility he is taking on is "demanding and even challenging," but added that he feels "supported by God, by my superiors and by everyone." To express his readiness, he quoted the words God addressed to the prophet Jeremiah: "Do not say, 'I am young.' You will go to all those to whom I send you, and you will say everything I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to protect you."

Claudia Leal Luna: moral theologian

Claudia Leal Luna was born in Chile on December 12, 1977. She received a degree in legal and social sciences from the University of Chile in 2001, then studied at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, where she completed a licentiate in moral theology in 2008 and a doctorate in the same field in 2012.

She taught at the theology faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile from 2012 to 2022, when she joined the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome as a professor. She is also a consultor of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a member of the International Theological Commission. Leo XIV appointed her to the commission on October 19 along with other new members, and gave it the task of examining the concept of Tradition over the next five years.

In her first remarks to the dicastery's staff, Leal Luna thanked the pope for his confidence in her and said she was joining "a work that is already under way." She pointed to her own life to explain how she understands human development: "I was born in Chile, I have lived in several countries and today, with my family, I am in Rome. Every border I have crossed has confirmed to me that human development always has a face and a name, and that in the Church no one is a stranger."

She said her time at the John Paul II Institute taught her that "in every culture, the family is the first place where human development becomes care." She entrusted her new mission to St. John XXIII, "the good pope," asking him to teach her to serve "with his meekness and trust, in that Church which he wanted to be the Church of all."

Other Roman Curia appointments

Also on November 5, Leo XIV named new members of the Dicastery for Evangelization, in its section for first evangelization and new particular Churches. They include Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the former apostolic nuncio to the United States; Cardinal Mario Zenari, the former nuncio to Syria; Ambrogio Spreafico, bishop emeritus of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino and Anagni-Alatri; and Maurizio Malvestiti, bishop of Lodi.