Mumbai priest Fr Gilbert Delima named to Vatican's International Theological Commission

A Mumbai priest has been given an important responsibility at the Vatican. Pope Leo XIV has appointed Rev Dr (PhD) Gilbert Paul Delima, rector of St Pius X College, Goregaon, a member of the International Theological Commission (ITC). He is the only priest from Mumbai chosen for the commission.

The appointment of 24 new ITC members was announced on October 19, 2026, through a bulletin of the Holy See Press Office. The term runs for five years, from 2026 to 2031. According to Fr Delima, he learnt of the news from a fellow priest, who had read it on the Vatican's official website.

Fr Delima said, "Several Indian priests have been members of this commission before, but I am the first priest from Mumbai to be chosen." Describing his first reaction, he said, "I was overcome with emotion and astonished. I did not think I was worthy of such a big responsibility. I instinctively asked the Lord for strength and the Holy Spirit for wisdom, so that I can carry out this responsibility." The newly constituted commission will hold its plenary meeting in Rome from November 23 to 27 this year, after which the members will begin their work.

Explaining what the commission does, he said the ITC was established by Pope Paul VI on April 11, 1969. It is an advisory body of the Holy See and has 30 theologians from different countries, cultures and theological traditions. The commission helps the Pope and the Catholic Church on important theological questions concerning faith, doctrine and the life of the Church and the world today.

Under the commission's method of working, members meet in Rome at least once a year to discuss and study important theological questions. Small groups of experts make an in-depth study of a particular subject. Members share theological research, ideas and suggestions with one another. The conclusions of the studies are placed before the Pope and also submitted to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

On the role of Asia, Fr Delima said, "The churches of Asia can help the ITC build a theology that is more open to different cultures, respects other religions, is rooted in prayer and pays attention to people's everyday experiences. Asia's contribution is not merely to ask the universal Church to listen to it. Asia can enrich the whole Church with its faith, understanding, spiritual traditions, cultural diversity and lived experience. The same is true of the churches of Africa, Latin America and other parts of the world. So the question is not only what Asia can learn from the universal Church, but also what the universal Church can learn from Asia."

Speaking of his ties with the city, he said, "I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I studied at St Paul's High School in Dadar and did my B Com from RA Podar College in Matunga." He served in the Archdiocese of Bombay, first as an assistant parish priest and later as parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Orlem, Malad (2012 to 2019).

He was among the faculty at St Pius X College in Goregaon, the archdiocese's seminary, from 1985 to 2011, and has been there again since 2019. In 1992 he completed a doctorate in systematic theology at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and was awarded "summa cum laude".