By Salvatore Cernuzio

The choice of a successor as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops was always expected to be among the first appointments by Pope Leo, following the precedent established by Pope Benedict XVI with his early choice of William Levada to follow him as head of the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Prior to his election as Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost headed up the Dicastery for Bishops, from January 2023, when he was transferred to Rome by Francis, until the death of the Pope in April 2025. On Friday, 26 September, Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Filippo Iannone, until now Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a role that also includes presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

Secretary and Undersecretary confirmed in their roles

The announcement of Archbishop Iannone’s appointment came in the daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office, which noted that the Archbishop will take up his new post on 15 October 2025.

The Press Office announced at the same time that Pope Leo has confirmed Brazilian Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari as Secretary of the same Dicastery for a further five-year term (he was first named to the role by Francis in 2013). The Pope also confirmed Monsignor Ivan Kovač as Undersecretary for a further five-year term.

Archbishop Iannone’s appointment is the first nomination of a head of a Dicastery made by Pope Leo. The only other appointment to a senior role in a Roman Curia body had been made on May 22 – just days after his election – when he named Sister Tiziana Merletti, a nun of the Institute of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Apostolic Societies.

Jurist and Canon Lawyer

Archbishop Iannone, a native of Naples who will turn 68 on December 13, is a Carmelite, jurist, and canon lawyer with extensive experience in courts, pontifical universities, and the archdiocese.

He has held various positions in Rome, including serving as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura; a consultor to the then Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life; a member of the Council for Legal Affairs of the Italian Bishops’ Conference; president of the Committee for Places of Worship, and a member of the Episcopal Conference of the Italian province of Lazio.

In 2012, he was appointed vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome by Benedict XVI; later, in 2017, he was transferred by Francis to the position of adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. He became president of that Council the following year, on 7 April 2018.

The task of choosing the world’s bishops

Archbishop Iannone is now charged with continuing the work that the future Pope had undertaken for two years. The role of Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops is a delicate one: assisting the Pope in choosing the pastors to whom he will entrust the ecclesial communities throughout the world. After identifying priests to propose for the episcopate, the final decision rests with the Pope.

To assist in this mission, Francis appointed three women as members of the Dicastery for Bishops in July 2022: Sister Raffaella Petrini, current president of the Governorate of Vatican City State; Yvonne Reungoat, former superior general of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; and Maria Lia Zervino, former president of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUFC).