The Master of the Order, fr. Bruno Cador, has appointed fr. Leobardo Almazn as the Assistant to the Permanent Delegate of the Order of Preachers to the United Nations and Permanent Representative at the UN Office in Geneva. His appointed will take effect from the 1st of January 2018. He will work under the direction of fr. Michael Deeb, Permanent Delegate of the Order to the UN. fr. Leo is from the Province of St. Martin de Porres, USA.
fr. Leo was born in Mexico City in 1971. He made his first profession in the Order in 2000. He studied Philosophy and Scriptures in Mexico, Moral Theology in the USA, and obtained a STL-STD in Social Ethics at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome. fr. Leo was ordained to the priesthood in 2005 and has served as parish priest, professor, and prior of a formation community.
fr. Leo has been involved in justice and peace efforts even before he became a Dominican, while working for a Senator in Mexico City. His moral theology training has allowed him to work, teach and do advocacy in the areas of social justice and human rights. He has been collaborating with the Orders NGO at the UN in Geneva since 2012.
Like a number of religious organizations, the Order of Preachers has an NGO at the UN in Geneva. Dominicans for Justice and Peace enjoys consultative status at the UN, which entitles it to have a Permanent Delegate who can rightly participate in debates and advocate for justice and peace, especially regarding those places-countries where our Dominican brothers and sisters live and work. Since most of this advocacy work is done in Geneva, there is a need to have a friar who is permanently based there. Since fr. Mike lives in Rome and travels frequently to the other UN offices and all around the world to fulfill his dual duties as Promoter of Justice and Peace and Permanent Delegate at the UN, fr. Leo will be the Orders permanent present in Geneva.
(28 December 2017)