A 38-year-old husband and father of two, Gleison De Paula Souza has been appointed secretary for the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. Originally hailing from Brazil, Souza teaches high school in Puglia.
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.
