Pope Francis appoints priest who serves disadvantaged youth to Vatican evangelization office

Vatican City, Oct 1, 2024 / 11:50 am

Pope Francis on Tuesday appointed Italian priest Father Samuele Sangalli, the president of a foundation that helps underprivileged youth, as deputy secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, with responsibility over the administration of the office for new dioceses.

The new role is a promotion for the 57-year-old priest, who was already serving as undersecretary in the same department.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization was formed in 2022 by the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium. 

It replaces the former Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, sometimes called “Propaganda Fide” (“Propagation of the Faith”) from its earlier Latin title, and the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The important department, headed by the pope, is divided into two sections: the Section for Fundamental Questions regarding Evangelization in the World and the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

Sangalli has been named deputy secretary of the Section for the First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella is pro-prefect of the section on evangelizing the world and Cardinal Luis Tagle is pro-prefect of the section on missionary territories, or “new particular churches.”

Originally from Lecco, a town in northern Italy close to Milan, Sangalli is a priest of the Ambrosian rite, the liturgical rite of the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Milan named for St. Ambrose, who led the diocese in the fourth century.

A priest for 28 years, Sangalli has a license in philosophy and has also studied educational sciences, which he has put to use as president of the Sinderesi Foundation, an organization that promotes education and assistance for underpriviledged youth.

According to an article by the Archdiocese of Milan, the Sindersi Foundation “is committed to stimulating [adolescents] to develop the ability to develop their own mature and competent judgment on reality, training them to take responsibility for their personal vocation.”