In a display of confidence, the Vatican has announced the appointment of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Diocese of Sokoto as a Member of the Council of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, Vatican City.
The appointment contained in a letter addressed to Bishop Kukah by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Peter Card. Parolin said Bishop Kukah will join other prominent Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops from all over the world to serve a five-year term on the Council.
Peter Card Parolin further listed other appointees to include the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, His Eminence Cardinal Walter McElroy, Card. Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Card. Conrad Krajewski of Poland, Archbishop Fulgence Mugalu of Lubumbashi, DRC.
Going down memory lane, a statement by Fr Pascal Salifu, the
Director of Communications,
Diocese of Sokoto recalled that,
Bishop Kukah was first appointed to the Council in 2022 when it was reconstituted by Pope Francis.
Explaining the roles of the Dicastery, Fr Pascal said they deals with the key thematic issues around the Catholic Church’s Social Teachings covering; The Environment, Human Rights, Migration, Human Development, Social Ethics among others.
Prior to this appointment, Bishop Kukah was appointed by Pope John Paul II of blessed memory in 1996 and re-appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 to serve in the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue over a ten-year period. He was part of the Vatican delegation to Qatar when that country opened diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 2005. He was appointed by Pope Francis to represent the Vatican on the Advisory Board of the King Abdulazeez International Council for Interreligious Dialogue, KAICIID, 2018-2025.
The Council also announced the appointment of Dr. Emmanuel Okechukwu, Director of Health Services at the Catholic Secretariat, to serve along with Priests, Religious and the Laity who are all expected to bring their expertise into the work of the Council.
Responding to the development, Bishop Kukah said he is humbled by the appointment and thanks the holy father immensely for giving him an opportunity to serve the Church. The thematic areas of the Dicastery, he said, fit perfectly into his areas of research and pastoral interest and looks forward to contributing to helping to infuse the Catholic ethos into public life in a world that has become severely wounded by human greed.
