Revd Timothy Radcliffe has been named consulter to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
According to the Catholic magazine Crux, he has acted as the head of the Dominican Order for nearly a decade and now leads a social justice center at Oxford.
He has also challenged attitudes in the church towards women, LGBT people and divorced Catholics.
In 2014 he was met with controversy when he was invited to speak at the International Conference of Divine Mercy, Ireland's largest Catholic gathering.
An American television network dropped plans to cover it, as his participation was seen as too far from Catholic teaching.
A debate broke out after he made comments in 2013 about homosexuality, according to The Tablet.
He said he was surprised about the reaction that his piece received, as his words were "deeply in resonance with the teaching of Pope Francis."
"Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual, and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ's self-gift," he added.
And writing in The Guardian in 2012 he said: "It is heartening to see the wave of support for gay marriages. It shows a society that aspires to an open tolerance of all sorts of people, a desire for us to live together in mutual acceptance."
However he has publically supported the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, saying a heterosexual marriage should not be be imposed on LGBT couples.
In 2013, Revd Timothy also spoke of having two main hopes: that divorced and remarried people are able to re-engage with the church, and that women will have their voice heard in the church and should hold positions of authority.
Speaking at the time he said: "Jesus offered a wide hospitality, and ate and drank with all sorts of people. We need to embody his open heart rather than retreat into a Catholic ghetto."
Catholic bishops from around the globe are meeting in Rome in October for the second part of a debate about family issues in the Church.
