Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, to a five-year term as a Member of the First Section of the Dicastery for Evangelisation and Mr John Docherty, former head-teacher of St Ninian’s High School in East Renfrewshire, to a five-year term as a Consultor of the same department, which deals with the ‘fundamental questions of evangelisation in the world’.
The Dicastery for Evangelization is a new department of the Roman Curia formed by the merger of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of New Evangelization in 2022.
The Dicastery is responsible for the fundamental questions of evangelization in the world and according to its Constitution, “is presided over directly by the Roman Pontiff.”
Reacting to his appointment, Archbishop Cushley said:
“I was surprised and honoured to be asked to become a member of the Dicastery for Evangelisation. As this dicastery is an important part of the recent curial reforms of the Holy Father, I look forward learning more and to contributing whatever I can to the fundamental questions of proposing the Good News in today’s world and its many contexts.”
Responding to his appointment, Mr Docherty said:
“I am both honoured and deeply humbled to be invited to serve the Church through the Dicastery of Evangelization. I hope that my experience of working within Catholic Education will be of value in assisting Pope Francis’ mission to put evangelisation at the centre of our lives. I look forward with great enthusiasm to the challenges that lie ahead.”