Ouagadougou: Professor Omer Combary, economist and teacher at Thomas Sankara University in Ouagadougou, has been appointed consultant to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Vatican, AIB learned from the Embassy of Burkina Faso to the Holy See.

According to Burkina Information Agency, this appointment was made on August 18, 2026, by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, alongside eleven other new consultors called to join this institution of the Roman Curia. The role of a consultor within the Roman Curia is to provide technical and academic insight into the deliberations and matters handled by a dicastery, without exercising any executive function.

Appointed directly by the Pope, consultors are generally called upon during plenary sessions or study commissions, where they offer their expertise to the decision-making bodies. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is dedicated to promoting integral human development, with a particular focus on issues of justice and peace, the economy and labor, health, migration, humanitarian action, and environmental protection.

Drawing on his expertise in economics, Professor Combary will contribute his skills to the work of this important institution of the Holy See. According to the Embassy of Burkina Faso to the Vatican, this appointment recognizes Burkinab¨ expertise and its contribution to international discussions on the major economic and social challenges facing the world today.

It is worth noting that Bishop Relwende Kisito Ouedraogo has been appointed the Pope's Representative to the Republic of Congo and Gabon, effective in early 2026.