The Vatican today announced two appointments by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The Holy Father has appointed the distinguished Professor Rodrigo Guerra López, a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, as secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

He also has appointed the distinguished Professor Emilce Cuda, lecturer in theology at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina and at Saint Thomas University, United States of America, as office head of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Professor Rodrigo Guerra López was born in Mexico City in 1966. He graduated in philosophy from the Free Popular University of the State of Puebla, Mexico; he was then awarded a higher degree in university humanism from the Ibero-American University, Mexico, and a doctorate in philosophy from the International Academy of Philosophy of the Principality of Liechtenstein.

He has held the role of academic coordinator of the John Paul II Pontifical Institute in Mexico City and has served as professor of metaphysics, bioethics, and philosophy of law at the PanAmerican University, Mexico. In 2013 he held the Karol Wojtyla Memorial Lectures at the Catholic University of Lublin, Poland.

From 2004 to 2007 he directed the Observatorio Socio Pastoral of the Latin American Episcopal Council. In 2008 he founded the Centro de Investigación Social Avanzada (CISAV), of which he is professor-researcher of the Division of Philosophy and member of the Consejo de Gobierno.

He is a member of the theological commission of the Latin American Episcopal Council and of the Pontifical Academy for Life, and is the author of numerous publications in the field of anthropology, bioethics, and social philosophy.

Professor Emilce Cuda obtained her BA (1990), MA (2005) and PhD/STD (2010) from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, UCA. She studied philosophy at Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA. She received an MBA (2001) from the Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales.

She is a research professor at Universidad Nacional Arturo Juaretche (UNAJ) and a visiting professor at the UCA, the UBA, and the University of St. Thomas (Texas). She was a visiting research professor in residence at Boston College (2016) and DePaul University (2019). She is an advisor and professor for the Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM), through its social school CEBITIPAL. She collaborates with the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development of the Roman Curia of the Holy See, with the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) of Geneva in the program “The Future of Work. Labor after Laudato Si and Post Covid 19”, with The Economy of Francesco, with the Episcopal Conference of Argentina, and with the Pastoral Juvenil de la Arquidiócesis de Los Angeles. She is a visible figure in the academic, ecclesial, and social organizations of Argentina and Latin America. She is a member of the global network Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC). where she was coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean between 2016 and 2018.