Pope appoints Vera Songwe to top Vatican role!.

The Cameroonian, who served for years as Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, was Monday appointed member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. She was appointed by Pope Leo XIV.

Established by Pope St. John Paul II in 1994, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has the “aim of promoting the study and progress of the social sciences, primarily economics, sociology, law and political science,” according to its statutes.

According to its statutes, “the Academy, through an appropriate dialogue, thus offers the Church the elements which she can use in the development of her social doctrine, and reflects on the application of that doctrine in contemporary society”.

Members, according to the statutes, are chosen “on the basis of their competencies in the social sciences and of their moral integrity”; they need not be Catholic faithful.

The appointment of Vera Songwe adds more feathers to her already overcrowded hat.

Songwe, who hails from Bamendakwe, in Mezam Division of the North West Region, has previously made the country proud through her international roles in various organisations.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1968, Vera Songwe holds Cameroonian nationality. 

She studied Economics and Political Science at the University of Michigan in the United States and obtained a doctorate in Mathematical Economics at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

Vera Songwe is a nonresident senior fellow in the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution. She is currently Chair of the Board of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility. 

She is also Co-chair of the Food System Economics Commission, an independent interdisciplinary academic commission that equips political and economic decisionmakers with tools and evidence to shift food and land use systems. 

Before that, she was an Under-Secretary-General at the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Previously, Songwe was Regional Director Africa covering West and Central Africa for the International Finance Corporation, and Country Director for Senegal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania at the World Bank. 

Her main areas of interest are fiscal policy, innovative financing mechanisms for development, agriculture, energy and economic governance. She is a member of the African Leadership Network.

Prior to becoming Director, she was a Lead Economist at the World Bank and Advisor to the Managing Director, who oversaw World Bank Operations in Africa, Europe, Central Asia and South Asia regions, as well as Human Resources.

She is member of the World Bank Group team that recently raised a historic US$49.3 billion dollars in concessional financing for low- income countries of the world as part of the International Development Association, IDA 16th replenishment. 

Prior to this, she worked in the East Asia and Pacific Region’s– Poverty Reduction and Economic Management unit, as Country Sector Coordinator and Senior Economist for the Philippines, where she led the dialogue on macroeconomic, fiscal policy and governance issues. 

She has worked in Mongolia, Cambodia and Morocco; managing different World Bank programmes, economic and growth policy dialogue. 

Prior to joining the Bank, Dr Songwe was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Southern California and at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, USA. 

She has published several articles on governance, fiscal policy, agriculture and commodity price volatility and trade. 

Dr Songwe holds a PhD in Mathematical Economics from the Centre for Operations Research. She equally holds a PhD in Econometrics from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. 

She is also holder of a BA in Economics and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Songwe participated in various international initiatives linked to climate financing and global development.

Among them is her role as an observer on the Pathways to Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development, an international initiative co-chaired by figures from the technology and finance sectors, including Melinda Gates.

Songwe’s profile reflects a career very closely linked to multilateral organisations, international financial institutions, and global projects related to climate change and economic development.

Meanwhile, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, where the Pope has appointed her to serve, is an institution of the Holy See that brings together experts from various disciplines with the aim of studying economic, social, and political issues relevant to contemporary societies.

In recent years, the academy has incorporated several specialists from international organisations, research centres, and global networks linked to development economics and climate policies.

The article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3728 of Wednesday March 11, 2026