Pope Leo XIV has appointed new members to the International Theological Commission for 2026-2031 and confirmed others. The body now has 30 members, including eight women and eight lay people.
Eight women will serve on the International Theological Commission, including five laywomen; eight members overall are lay people. Both groups have a larger presence as the commission begins its 2026-2031 term. The commission has 30 members, the maximum permitted under its statutes, up from 28 in the previous five-year term.
On 19 October, Pope Leo XIV appointed new members and confirmed the mandates of others. Six members were reappointed: Piero Coda, Alberto Cozzi, Simon Francis Gaine, Reinhard Huetter, Isabell Naumann and Josee Ngalula. The commission assists the Holy See, particularly the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in examining major current doctrinal questions.
Europe has 13 representatives, down from 14 in the previous term. Asia and Africa each have four, up from three. South America has five, compared with four before; North America has three and Australia one, unchanged in both cases. The commission’s regional makeup therefore includes 13 members from Europe, four each from Asia and Africa, five from South America, three from North America and one from Australia.
The number of women has risen from five to eight, with three additional women joining. Five are laywomen. There are now three lay male theologians, bringing the total number of lay members to eight, twice the previous figure. The clergy remain the majority of the commission.
The newly named members are Carlo Dell’Osso and Lubomír Žák; Khaled Emmanuel Anatolios, Ángel Cordovilla Pérez, Tiago de Fraga Gomes, Gilbert De Lima, Clarence Devadass, Fabricio Leonel Forcat, Julián Arturo López Amozurrutia, Gaston Ogui Cossi and Csaba Török; Paul Béré, SI, Michel Fédou, SI, Bernhard Knorn, SI, Patrick Mwania, CSSp., and Jorge Alejandro Scampini, OP. The appointments also include Shu Chin (María Teresa) Hu, FI, alongside Teresa Hyeon Soon Choi, Boyd Taylor Coolman, María Teresa Fattori, Claudia Leal Luna, Sara Parvis, Jan-Heiner Tück and Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan. The appointed members include theologians from countries such as Argentina, Brazil, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Taiwan and the United States. The Holy See Press Office identifies Cordovilla Pérez as dean of the faculties of theology and canon law at the Pontifical University of Comillas in Madrid, and Gomes as an associate professor at the School of Humanities of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has published the full commission list, including six members confirmed for another five-year mandate: Piero Coda, Alberto Cozzi, Simon Francis Gaine, Reinhard Huetter, Isabell Naumann and Josee Ngalula. The appointment process differs from party candidate selection, such as the PSOE's November candidate process: the Pope appoints commission members on the prefect’s proposal after consulting episcopal conferences. The commission is an expert advisory body, not an independent legislative or judicial institution.
Paul VI established the commission in 1969, with membership capped at 30. John Paul II promulgated its definitive statutes in 1982. The Pope appoints members for five-year terms, following a proposal from the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and consultations with bishops’ conferences. Its tenth five-year term began with appointments on 27 July 2021 and ended with the publication of the document «Cuidando nuestra casa común: una respuesta responsable y fraterna al Dios Trinitario». Over its history, the commission has published 33 documents with the approval of its president.
