Canon lawyer to lead Dicastery for Bishops
Archbishop Iannone now takes over the role left vacant by Pope Leo due to his papal election.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Pope Leo XIV has made one of his most consequential appointments to date, naming a canon lawyer to take on his own former Curial position as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops.
As of October 15, Archbishop Filippo Iannone O. Carm will assume his new role in the Roman Curia as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and – in the now customary accompanying position – President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
The announcement came via the Holy See Press Office in its September 26 bulletin.
Joining him in the Dicastery’s leadership is Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, who will continue for a five year term as Secretary, thus remaining in the role he has held since October 2013.
Also announced was Monsignor Ivan Kovač as the Dicastery’s Undersecretary.
The appointment of Iannone comes as Leo XIV’s first major move in Rome, and thus fills the position left vacant through Leo’s own election to the papacy in May.
Iannone has been Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts since April 2018. Consecrated bishop in 2001, he received the major role of Viceregent of the Diocese of Rome from Pope Benedict XVI in January 2012. A Carmelite and a canon lawyer, Iannone was also named to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature in 2015 – the Church’s highest court.
Thus, like Leo, Iannone is a canonist as well as a member of a religious order.
As Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the 67-year old Italian will now become one of Leo XIV’s most regular visitors. Traditionally the Pope receives the Prefect in an official audience on Saturdays, during which time nominees for dioceses around the globe are discussed and decided upon.
Thus not only will the formerly little-known prelate be one of the Pope’s most regular guests, but he will also wield some of the weightiest responsibility in the Curia, as he holds the future of the Church’s dioceses in his hands.
Some more high-profile and controversial names had been thrown around for the position in recent years, with Cardinal Blase Cupich reportedly being tipped to take over during Pope Francis’ reign. That, of course, never materialized, with Cardinal Robert Prevost assuming the position in 2023.
In marked contrast to Cupich, Iannone does not have the weight of controversy behind him.
Prominent U.K. journalist Damian Thompson quipped upon seeing the news “Should we prepare for a series of boring appointments? It may actually be what the Church needs.”
Meanwhile, Michael Heinlein – the biographer of late Cardinal Francis George and husband of OSV News’ editor-in-chief – wrote:
In turning to a non-controversial Curial veteran Iannone, Leo is likely advancing his mission of unity by prioritizing order and objectivity in the process of nominating bishops. The process in last pontificate observed a much more unorthodox approach and seemed to encourage maneuvering. Leo’s experience in the dicastery likely gave him clear vision for what was needed most.
This, combined with Leo undoubtedly sensitive to the need to keep much closer tabs on his former dicastery, indicates a likely change in direction for appointing bishops.
Iannone’s role now will likely draw heavily upon his canonical expertise, particularly at a time in which dioceses are increasingly beset with issues relating to sexual abuse, whether historic or recent. The archbishop will have direct experience for dealing with such questions, given his role in analyzing Vos Estis Lux Mundi, the motu proprio from Pope Francis which presented new norms for dealing with sexual abuse in the Church.
An immovable secretary
But the Dicastery for Bishops will not be Iannone’s arena solely. In many respects, the longtime secretary of the Dicastery may in reality hold almost as much power as his new Prefect.
Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari has held his Secretary role since October 2013, and has been viewed by many as a protege of Pope Francis. A native of Brazil, Montanari worked as an official in the Dicastery for Bishops from 2008 through 2013, at which point he leapfrogged the ranks from a lowly position and was made Secretary by Pope Francis.
Described as exercising undue influence – especially in latter years – Montanari was viewed as Francis’ man inside the Dicastery.
As noted by The Pillar’s Edgar Beltran, Montanari was so favored by Pope Francis as to be the late pope’s personal choice to lead the dicastery, but he never accepted such a position, thus leading to Cardinal Prevost assuming the role.
In his initial and highly explosive August 2018 testimony, former U.S. Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò linked Montanari’s meteoric rise through the curial ranks to the influence of the late ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The Nuncio writes that Montanan was a “great friend of his [Pope Francis’] private Argentine secretary Fabian Pedacchio — as Secretary of the same Congregation for Bishops and Secretary of the College of Cardinals, promoting him in one single leap from a simple official of that department to Archbishop Secretary. Something unprecedented for such an important position!”
Whether Montanari does in fact owe his career to the scandal-plagued McCarrick is something which will be much more difficult to ascertain for certain.
What will now be heavily scrutinized is the quality and characteristics of the bishops that Leo XIV and Archbishop Iannone will together place into the Church’s dioceses.