Pope appoints religion teacher as new secretary for Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life

By Vatican News staff reporter

Originally from the state of Minas Geiras, in south-eastern Brazil, Gelison De Paula Souza’s journey has taken him to Puglia, in the ‘heel’ of Italy, and now to the Vatican: On Thursday, Pope Francis appointed Souza as Secretrary of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Thirty-eight years old, married and father of two daughters, De Paula Souza teaches religion at a secondary school, the Liceo Scientifico e Linguistico Statale ‘A. Vallone,’ in Galatina in Puglia..

The newly appointed secretary of the dicastery was a member of the Orionian religious family, between 2005 and 2016. In 2015, he obtained a Bachelor's degree in Theology at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome and in 2019 a Master's degree in Philosophical Sciences at the University of Salento in Lecce.