Pope Leo XIV has appointed a prominent El Paso immigrant advocate to the Vatican body that promotes the church’s social doctrine on issues such as justice, peace, immigration, health and work.
Dylan Corbett, the executive director of Hope Border Institute in El Paso, is among 11 appointees announced Monday to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
He was part of a delegation of El Pasoans who met with Pope Leo in October 2025 to discuss the impacts of the Trump administration’s policies on migration, particularly mass detention and mass deportation.
“I think my appointment really reflects the Holy Father’s concern for the plight of migrants, the situation of the undocumented here in this country and at the border and in Mexico. And so it’s an honor to be able to help advise him on these issues,” he said in an interview with El Paso Matters.
Corbett worked for the dicastery in Latin America before founding Hope Border Institute in El Paso in 2015. The organization combines research, human rights advocacy, leadership development and humanitarian action in pursuit of justice on the U.S.-Mexico border.
He will continue to serve as executive director of Hope Border Institute, but said the appointment to serve on the governing board of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will involve frequent travel to Rome.
The work of the dicastery involves the church’s role in numerous international and national policy issues.
Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff born in the United States.
When he was chosen by the College of Cardinals last year, the papal name chosen by Robert Prevost was a significant indicator of his priorities, Corbett said. Leo XIII, pope from 1878 to 1903, was the father of what is now called Catholic social teaching.
“What Pope Leo did in the 19th century was really try to bring faith to bear on the issues of contemporary life, contemporary social and political issues. And so I think Pope Leo XIV, like his predecessor, Pope Leo the 13th, is trying to make the faith credible by addressing these important social challenges, and I think that he’s particularly sensitive to immigration, but also questions at work, how artificial intelligence will impact that,” Corbett said.
He said his Catholic faith motivates his work on immigration.
“To be a person of faith here at the border means to be a person who works for justice, who shows compassion to the vulnerable, who makes that faith credible by translating it into public practice,” Corbett said.
The post Pope Leo XIV names El Paso’s Dylan Corbett to key Vatican role on immigration, human development appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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