Pope Leo XIV has named a fellow Augustinian priest—and a Black Catholic—as vice regent of the papal household, a newly created position in the nascent administration of the American pontiff.
The Vatican announced the news on Monday, noting that Fr Edward Daleng, a Nigerian, previously served as general counsellor and procurator general of the Augustinian Order, roles involving general administration and relations with the Holy See.
Pope Leo XIV appoints Fr. Edward Daleng, O.S.A. as the new vice regent of the Pontifical Household, who has served as General Counsellor and Procurator General of the Order of Saint Augustine.https://t.co/hFeRrF8UXQ
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) November 10, 2025
The 48-year-old Daleng made final vows with the Augustinians in 2004 and was ordained in 2005. He holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical Alphonsian Academy, and has served as an educator at the Augustinianum in Rome and as assistant prior general of the Augustinians for Africa.
His writings have included contributions on the understanding of St. Augustine of Hippo’s just war theory, as well as on the African theological understanding of Christianity. Daleng’s dissertation was on human dignity as it relates to care for the sick.
A longtime friend of Pope Leo XIV, Daleng was one of the ordinary priests present with him during a meeting of Augustinian bishops in Rome in 2016. The pope was then still known as Bishop Robert Prevost, serving the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru.
Following Prevost’s election as the first American pope—and the first of known Black African descent—Daleng told Vatican News that the new Holy Father was well-connected to the motherland from his time as superior general of the Augustinians between 2001 and 2013.
“He has Africa in his heart,” Daleng said. “He has visited all our [Augustinian] African missions several times and has come to my country, Nigeria, on at least ten occasions, including in 2016, when we celebrated for the first time the intermediate General Chapter.”
Daleng’s role of vice regent in the papal household is a new position, created by Pope Leo as part of building out his administrative team in the Vatican. Notably, he has also appointed five African bishops to the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
In the overhaul of Vatican administrative positions under Pope Francis—as detailed in the 2022 apostolic constitution “Praedicate Evangelium”—the Roman Curia’s Prefecture of the Papal Household is to be headed by a prefect assisted by a regent, both of whom serve five-year terms. The papal household itself organizes the daily activities of the pope, including ceremonies, official meetings, travel, and liturgies, among other happenings.
The constitution does not mention a vice regent of the prefecture, and the prefect position has been vacant since the term of Archbishop Georg Gänswein ended unceremoniously in February 2023.
An Italian priest of the Rogationists, Msgr Leonardo Sapienza, has continued to serve as regent of the papal household since 2012, when has appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. His term is due to expire in 2027.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
