New statutes approved for John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel

February 06, 2026

Pope Leo XIV approved amended statutes for the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, founded in 1984 to provide assistance to Africa’s Sahel region.

A February 5 statement from the Holy See Press Office cited “the need to regularize the canonical status” of the Foundation, “aligning it with the current regulatory framework for Legal Persons instrumental to the Roman Curia and with the regulations on the patrimony of the Apostolic See.”

The Pontiff approved the amended statutes on January 29, in an audience with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness.

Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, reported that ‘the Statute establishes that the Foundation is an instrumental legal entity of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, governed by canon law and Vatican civil law applicable to juridical persons headquartered in the Vatican”

The dicastery, in turn, said in a statement that the amended statutes followed “the appointment in December 2024 of the Pontifical Delegate, His Excellency Monsignor Florent Hassa Koné (Bishop of San, Mali, member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors) was made with the aim of accompanying the final stages of this process in constant dialogue with the Holy See. This process was carried out by the [dicastery], in collaboration with the Secretariat of State, the Secretariat for the Economy, and the Governorate.”

“With the new Statutes, the Foundation becomes even closer to the local church, flexibly accompanying processes towards faster and more sustainable progress and responding in a targeted manner to the many challenges facing the territory,” the dicastery added.

 

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Further information:

• Rescriptum ex Audientia Sanctissimi, 05.02.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 2/5/26)
• A new Statute for the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel (Vatican News, 2/5/26)
• John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel: Approval of the new Statutes of the body (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, 2/5/26)
• Statuto della Fondazione Giovanni Paolo II per il Sahel, 05.02.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 2/5/26)