The Vatican has announced the appointment of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr.) Matthew Hassan Kukah, as a member of the Council of the Dicastery for Integral Human Development.
The appointment was contained in a letter addressed to Bishop Kukah by His Holiness, Pope Leo IV, and signed by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
The Director of Communications, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Rev. Fr. Pascal Salifu, said that Bishop Kukah will join other prominent cardinals, archbishops, and bishops from all over the world to serve a five-year term on the council.
“Other members include the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, His Eminence Cardinal Walter McElroy; Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna; Cardinal Conrad Krajewski of Poland; Archbishop Fulgence Mugalu of Lubumbashi, DRC,” Salifu said.
Bishop Kukah, according to Salifu, was first appointed to the council in 2022 when it was reconstituted by Pope Francis.
“The Dicastery 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 Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural 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,” Salifu stated.
Reacting to the development, Bishop Kukah said he is humbled by the appointment and thanked the Pope 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,” Salifu also said.