Pope names members with U.S. ties to Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development

Pope Leo XIV has chosen four U.S. Catholics to serve in a Vatican office that focuses heavily on immigration.

Hope Border Institute Executive Director Dylan Corbett is among four U.S. Catholics Pope Leo XIV has tapped to serve in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

“It was an honor to receive the appointment from the Holy Father,” Corbett told EWTN News. “I think it’s really because the Holy Father is attentive to the presence of God in border communities and in the struggle for the rights and dignity of those who migrate.”

The Holy Father also appointed to the dicastery Father Daniel Gerard Groody, CSC, vice president and associate provost for undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame; Meghan J. Clark, assistant chair of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University; and Léocadie Wabo Lushombo, IT, of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.

The dicastery is a Vatican entity dedicated to advancing human dignity that was established by Pope Francis in August 2016. It is comprised of the former pontifical councils for Justice and Peace, “Cor Unum,” Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant People, and Health Pastoral Care.

Groody, known for his “theology of migration,” told EWTN News in a statement: “In light of the pressing global challenges facing the world and the cry of the poor and vulnerable, I am humbled and honored by this appointment and hope to contribute everything I have to help make the invisible love of God more visible to the world.”

The Notre Dame priest said his goal while serving as a member of the dicastery is “to lay out the mission of Jesus Christ … so that his love speaks to everyone, especially those who are crucified today and need the hope and healing of the Gospel message.”

Clark, a moral theologian whose work on Catholic social teaching examines the intersection of human dignity, solidarity, and development, echoed her colleagues, telling EWTN News she is “grateful for the opportunity to serve the dicastery and the Church in this new way.”

“I am humbled to be alongside such esteemed colleagues, all deeply committed to promoting and practicing the social teachings of the Church with particular attention to the dignity of the marginalized — especially migrants — of the common good, and integral ecology,” she said.

“I felt very honored,” Lushombo told EWTN News on receiving her appointment. A consecrated member of the Teresian Association, Lushombo emphasized that “our mission has always been the human person” and “care of the vulnerable.”

The Jesuit School of Theology professor said she plans to apply her academic background and research on Catholic social teaching, Christian ethics, migration, the preferential option for the poor, political theology, and liberation theology to her work with the dicastery.

“My objective is to bring the Church to actually consider the weakest, the least, the excluded, and the oppressed, especially women,” she said. “The teaching of the last two decades considers all these aspects very strongly, but my goal will be to bring the Church to actually do it.”

‘A moment of tremendous challenge’ for human dignity

Corbett, who has previously served as an official in the dicastery and on the former pontifical council for migration, emphasized the significance of being “chosen by an American pope at this moment in our history to serve the worldwide Church.”

“The Holy Father clearly has a deep knowledge of the issues confronting the United States right now and a sensitivity for the pain of a lot of people who are experiencing the realities of being undocumented,” he said.

Alongside Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Texas, and Auxiliary Bishop Anthony Celino, Corbett met with Pope Leo on behalf of the Hope Border Institute in October 2025, giving the pope a collection of handwritten letters from migrant families expressing fear and faith. They also showed Leo a video with immigrants’ voices saying mass deportations in the U.S. are breaking family bonds and stripping children of safety.

“I think that we’re living right now in a moment of tremendous challenge when you think about issues of human dignity,” he said. “This is the significance of the name Leo. I think that the Holy Father believes, and I believe this, too, that we’re really living in a Rerum Novarum moment.”

“Global institutions are under threat of collapse, and we’re seeing that with the war in Iran, and on a number of different fronts,” he said. “But it’s also a moment when we can repropose the Gospel to the world.”

Seitz reacted to Corbett’s appointment in a statement shared with EWTN News, saying: “I give thanks to God for the appointment of Dylan Corbett … His recognition affirms Mr. Corbett’s faithful leadership and his witness of faith to our border community, where the dignity of all that is encountered and defended each day.”

“I am confident that Mr. Corbett will bring the voices and experiences of our border region to the universal Church in a meaningful way. His appointment is a sign of hope and a reminder that the Church continues to walk with those most in need, guided by the light of the Gospel,” the bishop said.

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