Pope Leo XIV has appointed 19 new consultors to the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, a move that broadly confirms the trajectory of nominations established under Pope Francis.
The Holy See announced the appointments on Monday, naming clerics, religious sisters, and lay academics from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas to advise the dicastery in its work.
The consultors come from a wide range of theological, cultural, and institutional backgrounds and include figures already prominent in synodal processes, interreligious initiatives, and Catholic social movements.
Among those appointed is Emilce Cuda, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. Cuda attracted international attention in 2022 following the United States Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, when she warned that many Catholics “confuse the defence of life with the defence of ideological positions” and argued that human dignity should not be reduced to abortion and euthanasia alone. She has also said, “I do not comment on abortion because I am specialised in social morality, not in bioethics.” Cuda is publicly associated with the current of thought known as the theology of the people, which developed in Argentina and influenced aspects of Pope Francis’s pastoral vision.
Another appointment is Mónica Santamarina, president general of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations. In June 2023, Santamarina called for tackling what she described as clericalism by increasing the presence of women in seminaries and Church leadership. She has warned that after the Synod the Church could again “close its doors” and has repeatedly argued for a more prominent role for women in ecclesial decision making.
Sister Mary Teresa Barron, superior general of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles, has also been named a consultor. Speaking at a Vatican press conference during the Synod in October 2024, she said the question of women deacons should not be framed in terms of whether women “can or cannot be ordained”, but whether “the Spirit is calling women”, adding that “some feel called to the priesthood or diaconate”.
From the lay apostolate, Ana María Bidegain, president of ICMICA MIIC Pax Romana, joins the dicastery’s consultors. In a June 2023 interview, she said, “Our great challenge is how we help articulate and build the synodal Church.” In the same conversation, she remarked that “without the work of the laity, Liberation Theology would never have been born”, and cautioned against what she described as ideological approaches within Church debates, saying, “When you say that a woman or a man must do this or that, what is that? That is an ideology!”
The appointments also include Catherine Cornille, director of interreligious studies at Boston College. Cornille has written extensively in favour of religious pluralism and has suggested that practices such as “Buddhist meditation” and “Hindu practices of yoga” can help Christians “live up to our own highest goals”.
From Latin America, Sofía Nicolasa Chipana Quispe of Bolivia has been named a consultor. She is associated with indigenous, feminist, and decolonial theology and has spoken of Andean spirituality as inseparable from Pachamama. In a 2025 interview, she said: “We are not Pachamama. We are fully a part of Pachamama, we belong to Pachamama, but we are not the entire Pachamama.”
The list further includes Father Wasim Salman, a Syrian Italian priest incardinated in the Diocese of Palestrina and president of the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. He has argued that interreligious dialogue is essential for peace, saying, “It is the love for our Muslim brothers that will mark our activities, especially since the Church shares with Islam the same concerns described and developed extensively in the Document on Human Fraternity.” He has also referred to Islam as “this great religion whose spread is impressive today”.
The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue was established by Pope Paul VI and, following reforms introduced by Pope Francis, is tasked with promoting understanding, respect, and cooperation between Catholics and followers of other religious traditions.
Although many of these views are heterodox, it is important to note that consultors do not define doctrine. They do, however, shape the climate in which decisions are framed and, in doing so, influence how the Church comes to understand its relationship with other religions.
Although Leo XIV has signalled a desire to stabilise curial governance after years of turbulence, Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli being a partial exception despite his administrative competence, the choice of consultors follows the trajectory set under Pope Francis. Figures associated with synodal processes, pluralist approaches to religion, and expansive readings of dialogue have again been elevated to advisory roles. No doctrinal rupture has been made, but the pattern reveals a sustained preference for voices formed in the post conciliar culture of openness.
The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue is, and always has been, a post conciliar body. Created in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, it sought new ways of engaging with secularism and religious plurality. Its mandate was never neutral. From the beginning, interreligious dialogue attracted theologians inclined towards progressive interpretations of other faiths and cautious about the doctrine of Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus. The appointments therefore do not represent a sudden deviation, but rather the maturation of a long-standing institutional orientation.
The accumulation of such figures within the Curia should not come as a surprise and is widely considered normal and pastorally necessary for the dicastery. Consultors advise, draft, and frame questions. When the dicastery seeks expertise on sensitive theological matters, it is these voices that will be heard first.
On a personal level, these recognised heterodox pressures can function as tests of faith. History offers many examples in which confusion forced believers to decide whether their loyalty lay with something transient or with the Church’s perennial teaching. The present moment should therefore be a call to prayer rather than reflexive outrage or naïve optimism.
Leo XIV has, in other areas, appeared to draw back from some of the more disruptive instincts of the previous pontificate, favouring experienced bishops and curial priests in positions of governance. Yet in the consultative sphere, particularly on questions of dialogue, the Francis era continues almost uninterrupted.
Ultimately, these appointments do not overturn doctrine, nor do they compel assent to any particular theological opinion. They do, however, reveal that influence is being concentrated on one particular side.
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