Pope Leo XIV Appoints Ugandan Priest, Kenyan and Burkinabè Professionals to Vatican Development Dicastery

Dr. Combary has also conducted research on income diversification and the relationship between social services and agricultural productivity.

Lucy Afandi Esipila

Ms. Esipila heads Caritas Africa, the regional network of Catholic humanitarian and development organizations on the continent. She was elected Regional Executive Secretary during the network’s General Assembly in Rome in May 2023, becoming the first woman to lead the organization.

She began working with Caritas in 2012 as Assistant Livelihoods Programme Officer in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Maralal.

During her six years in the northern Kenyan Diocese, she worked with pastoralist communities on food security, livelihoods, gender, communications and development. She also participated in community-managed disaster-risk-reduction programmes involving populations affected by climate change and competition over water and pasture.

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Ms. Esipila also managed Radio Mchungaji 94.5 FM, the Diocese of Maralal’s radio station, gaining experience in development communication and evangelization.

She served as national coordinator for research, communications and advocacy at Caritas Kenya from October 2018 to December 2019. She began supporting Caritas Africa’s advocacy initiatives in January 2020 and subsequently joined the regional organization as Policy and Advocacy Officer.

In that position, she participated in international cooperation and advocacy involving the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the UN climate negotiations.

The Moi University graduate, who studied communication and public relations, now oversees the Caritas Africa regional secretariat from Lomé, Togo. 

Her advocacy has addressed Africa’s economic challenges, debt, climate action, food security and humanitarian localization.

Other appointees

The nine other newly appointed consultors are Msgr. Peter Klasvogt, Rector of the Pontifical College of the Teutonic Church of Santa Maria in Camposanto in Rome; Fr. Francesco Coluccia, Director of the Office for the Pastoral Care of Health of Italy’s Archdiocese of Otranto; and Fr. Joseph Jeyaraj Swaminathan, Associate Professor at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.

Also appointed were Paolo Foglizzo, Editor of Aggiornamenti Sociali in Milan; Peter G. Kirchschläger, Director of the Institute of Social Ethics at the University of Lucerne in Switzerland; Kathryn A. Koch, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Trust Company of the West in Los Angeles.

The Holy Father also appointed Jacqueline Remond, Adjunct Lecturer at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney; Caren Rodrigues, Associate Professor at Saint Joseph’s Institute of Management in Bangalore, India; and Clemens Sedmak, Director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies at the University of Notre Dame.