Pope Leo XIV appoints members of International Theological Commission
Pope Leo XIV appointed 24 members to the International Theological Commission and renewed the mandates of six members for its 2026–2031 term. The Commission now has 30 members, including Secretary General Msgr. Piero Coda, whose mandate was renewed for five years. Representation increased from Asia, Africa, and South America; women’s membership rose from five to eight, and lay members doubled to eight. The Commission assists the Holy See, especially the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, by examining significant and timely doctrinal questions.
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Pope Leo XIV has appointed 24 new members to the International Theological Commission and renewed the terms of six others, beginning the commission’s 2026–2031 term. The 30-member body will have more lay members and greater representation from Asia, Africa, and South America than in its previous term. 1
The pope reappointed Msgr. Piero Coda as secretary general for another five years. The other five returning members are Father Alberto Cozzi, Father Simon Francis Gaine, Professor Reinhard Huetter, Sister Isabell Naumann, and Sister Josee Ngalula. 1
Women’s representation rose from five members to eight, including five laywomen. With three laymen, lay members now make up eight of the commission—twice the number in the previous term. 1
Europe has 13 members, down from 14; Asia and Africa each have four, up from three; and South America has five, up from four. North America retains three members, and Australia has one. 1
The 24 appointees are Monsignor Carlo Dell’Osso and Monsignor Lubomír Žák; Fathers 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, Csaba Török, Paul Béré, Michel Fédou, Bernhard Knorn, Patrick Mwania, and Jorge Alejandro Scampini; Sister Shu Chin (Maria Teresa) Hu; and Professors Teresa Hyeon Soon Choi, Boyd Taylor Coolman, Maria Teresa Fattori, Claudia Leal Luna, Sara Parvis, Jan-Heiner Tück, and Anne-Sophie Vivier-Muresan. 1
Among the new members are University of Notre Dame theologian Father Khaled Anatolios and Boston College professor Boyd Coolman. Anatolios, a married Melkite Catholic priest, has taught at Notre Dame since 2015 and previously taught at Boston College; Coolman earned his doctorate in church history from Notre Dame and has taught at Boston College since 2005. 2 3
Anatolios said he was “honored and humbled” by the appointment and welcomed Pope Leo’s Christ-centered vision for addressing current challenges. Coolman described his appointment as surprising and said he looked forward to serving the Church. 2 3
The commission advises the Holy See, particularly the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, on major theological questions of current importance. Its members serve five-year terms, may be reappointed, and contribute to studies that are submitted to the pope and made available to the dicastery. 1 2
Established by Pope Paul VI in 1969, the commission brings together theologians from different countries, schools of thought, and ecclesial backgrounds. Its next plenary session is scheduled for November 23–27; over its history, it has published 33 documents with the approval of the dicastery’s prefect, who serves as its president. 1
Theological authority, ecclesial discernment, and inclusive participation
Theological authority, ecclesial discernment, and inclusive participation are not competing principles in Catholic synodality. They belong together: the whole Church participates in seeking what the Spirit is saying, while ordained authority serves that process and retains its proper responsibility for teaching, governing, and deciding.
Catholic ecclesial authority is not simply delegated by the community, as if pastors were representatives whose mandate rested on a vote. The International Theological Commission describes pastoral authority as a gift of the Spirit of Christ the Head, given for the building up of the whole Body. The faithful likewise receive gifts of the Spirit and are called to serve one another. Distinct roles therefore arise within a shared communion; neither the authority of pastors nor the participation of the faithful makes the other dispensable.
This distinction matters because synodality is not ecclesial democracy in the ordinary political sense. A synod is not meant to settle doctrine by counting preferences. Nor does hierarchy mean that pastors can ignore the experience and counsel of the faithful. In the Church, participation concerns the common pursuit of fidelity to the Gospel, while authority has a particular responsibility to preserve apostolic faith and guide the community’s mission.
Ecclesial discernment is more than collecting views or finding a compromise. The 2024 Synod document presents it as a spiritual practice requiring prayer, humility, interior freedom, mutual trust, and openness to God’s will. Participants speak conscientiously, listen to one another, and seek together to recognize what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. Thus, a majority opinion or a consensus is not, by itself, proof of the Spirit’s guidance; the quality of the process depends on conversion, listening, and fidelity to the faith.
Discernment also has a doctrinal and apostolic horizon. The faithful’s sensus fidei—the Spirit-given capacity of the baptized to recognize and live the faith—is exercised in communion with the Church, not as an individual entitlement to define the faith independently. The International Theological Commission links this spiritual instinct to a shared “sense with the Church” and to the faithful’s participation in the Church’s prophetic, priestly, and royal mission.
Broad participation is theologically significant, not merely a gesture of courtesy. The Synod document says that the more people are heard, the richer discernment can be, and it particularly calls for the involvement of those at the margins of the Christian community and society. Their testimony can disclose pastoral realities, suffering, obstacles to evangelization, and gifts that may otherwise remain unseen. Listening to them does not mean treating every proposal as equally sound; it means ensuring that discernment has genuinely attended to the whole People of God.
This participation is differentiated. The Church’s ordinary life and mission should involve the whole People of God, but with distinctions among ministries and roles; synodal structures and gatherings are likewise convened and presided over according to ecclesial authority and discipline. Inclusion therefore does not erase the difference between lay, ordained, and episcopal responsibilities.
A key distinction is between decision-making—the shared process of listening, consultation, discernment, and cooperation—and decision-taking, the act of making a decision that belongs to the competent authority. The Commission gives the diocesan bishop as an example: the community and its pastors work through discernment together, while the bishop remains responsible for the decision. This is not a separation between a listening community and a deciding hierarchy; it is a distribution of responsibilities within communion.
That responsibility does not make consultation meaningless. The 2024 Synod document states that when Church law requires consultation, those in authority must listen and may not act as if the consultation never occurred. If they depart from a consensus reached through consultation, they should have a compelling reason and explain it appropriately. Authority is therefore constrained by justice and accountable to the demands of communion, even where consultation does not transfer the final decision to the consulted group.
Taken together, these principles offer a balanced account: authority without listening risks arbitrary or disconnected governance; participation without theological and pastoral responsibility risks reducing discernment to opinion aggregation. Synodality seeks neither outcome. It calls the faithful to contribute their gifts and experience, pastors to listen and discern with them, and those entrusted with authority to make decisions in service of the Church’s communion and mission.