Reorganization of the Curia

The Roman Curia brings together all the dicasteries and organizations which help the pope in the exercise of his charge. Every cardinal being by nature a collaborator of the Roman pontiff, will be, from the time of his appointment, assigned to a dicastery, the equivalent of a ministry.

Cardinals who have reached the age of 80, the limit set by canon law, are exempt from this curial charge. The new list speaks volumes about the reorganization carried out by Pope Francis within the Curia towards which he has never hidden a certain distrust since his election in March 2013.

Since the 2022 reform, the Dicastery for Evangelization has become the first organ of the Curia, at the expense of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). Two new cardinals have been added to it: Vicente Bokalic Iglic, Archbishop of Santiago del Estero, was auxiliary bishop of the future Pope in Buenos Aires, and Domenico Battaglia, Archbishop of Naples, a “street priest,” both of whom support the German synodal path.

Several new cardinals have been appointed to the DDF: Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, Bishop of Caloocan; Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre; Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Archbishop of Abidjan; Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin. The four new members all participated in the two sessions of the last synod devoted to synodality, whose main orientations they share.

Thus, Cardinal Spengler advocates for the ordination of married men in regions that lack priests, and he is a promoter of an “Amazonian” rite introduced ad experimentum since the end of 2024. This same high prelate has also been appointed to the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: quite a symbol.

The Dicastery for Eastern Churches welcomes Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, currently responsible for apostolic journeys at the Secretariat of State. He is of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is going through a serious liturgical crisis in India. Until now, it has not been represented among the members of the DEC. 

ACI Stampa Vatican expert Andrea Gagliarducci believes that this surprising promotion of the “pope’s travel agent” would be a way for Francis to free up his hands and depend less on the Secretariat of State in his trips abroad.

Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, Archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan of the Latins, is appointed to the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, and Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, Coadjutor Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major, to the Dicastery for Bishops, where are selected candidates for the episcopate in dioceses that do not depend on the Dicastery for Evangelization.

Bishop Makrickas has often proven his loyalty to the current Pope, notably as head of administration of the first section of the Secretariat of State, a position he held between 2019 and 2021, when his service had been tarnished by the scandal of the fraudulent purchase of a London building.

Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, is assigned to the Dicastery for the Clergy. He is the trusted man charged by the Pope with implementing the reform aimed at making the Vicariate of Rome more dependent on the Argentine pontiff.

The Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life welcomes Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, Archbishop of Guayaquil.

The Dicastery for the Laity and the Family welcomes Cardinal Fabio Baggio, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DSDHI): an ardent promoter of the synodal path, the reception of migrants and ecology within the Roman Curia, he could become Prefect of the DSDHI.

Archbishop of Belgrade, in a country with an Eastern Orthodox majority, Cardinal Ladislav Nemet is appointed to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity: an appointment that must be read in the sense of a rapprochement with Orthodoxy, in particular the Patriarchate of Moscow, to which Belgrade is very close. He is Vice-President of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, and for the progressive line of the Synod.

Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers, joins the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, probably because of the Muslim majority in which he exercises his episcopal ministry. The high prelate is known for his defense of the promotion of women in the Church, whose “patriarchal” and “anachronistic” model he regrets.

Finally, here are the appointments of the other cardinals: Mykola Bychok, Bishop of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians, to the Dicastery for Culture and Education; Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, Archbishop of Lima, to the DSDHI; Frank Leo, Archbishop of Toronto, to the Dicastery for Legislative Texts; Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, to the Dicastery for Communication; and Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib, Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

No need to be versed in the mysteries of the Vatican to see that the pope has greatly increased his control over the various organs of the Curia, which, from consistory to consistory, appears to be increasingly reworked. With one objective: to inscribe in the long term the governance and the spirit of reform that have presided over the destiny of the Church since 2013.