Iannone, who will also serve as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, will assume his new role on October 15, 2025.
Newsroom (26/09/2025, Gaudium Press ) In his first appointment of a dicastery head, Pope Leo XIV has named Archbishop Filippo Iannone, a Carmelite prelate and current prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, as the new prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. The announcement, made public on September 26, 2025, by the Holy See Press Office, marks a significant transition for the dicastery previously led by the pontiff himself from January 2023 to May 2025, when he was elected to the Chair of Peter. Iannone, who will also serve as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, will assume his new role on October 15, 2025.
Continuity in Leadership
The Vatican’s midday bulletin confirmed that Monsignor Ilson de Jesus Montanari, a Brazilian prelate, will continue as secretary of the Dicastery for Bishops for another five-year term. Montanari has served in this role since 2013, under Pope Francis. Similarly, Monsignor Ivan Kovač has been reconfirmed as under-secretary for a further five years.
This appointment follows Pope Leo XIV’s earlier decision on May 22, 2025, to appoint Sister Tiziana Merletti of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor as secretary of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, his only other curial leadership appointment to date.
A Jurist and Canonist
Archbishop Iannone, who will turn 68 on December 13, 2025, brings a wealth of experience to his new role. A native of Naples, Italy, the Carmelite prelate is a distinguished jurist and canonist with a robust career in ecclesiastical governance. His past roles include membership in the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, consultor to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, and president of the Committee for Religious Buildings within the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI). In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome, a position he held until 2017, when Pope Francis named him adjunct secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. Iannone was elevated to president of the same dicastery on April 7, 2018.
A Pivotal Role in Episcopal Appointments
The Dicastery for Bishops plays a critical role in assisting the pope in selecting bishops to lead Catholic communities worldwide. The prefect’s responsibilities include identifying and proposing candidates for episcopal appointments, with the final decision resting with the pontiff. This delicate task, which Iannone himself performed for two years before his election as pope, requires discernment and alignment with the Church’s mission.
In a notable reform in July 2022, Pope Francis appointed three women as members of the Dicastery for Bishops: Sister Raffaella Petrini, 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. Their inclusion reflects ongoing efforts to broaden perspectives within the dicastery’s decision-making process.
As Archbishop Iannone prepares to take up his new responsibilities, the Church anticipates his leadership in guiding the selection of bishops, a role central to the global mission of the Catholic Church.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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