Photo by Perrant / Wikimedia C
Pope Leo XIV approves former Manila archbishop’s election to senior Vatican position
VATICAN CITY — Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, becoming the first Asian to hold a senior Church office with important responsibilities during papal transitions.
The Vatican announced Friday, October 9, that Pope Leo XIV had approved Tagle’s election the previous day following a vote by members of the Order of Cardinal Bishops. Tagle, 69, succeeds Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, who had served as dean since 2020. Earlier holders included Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of Benin, who led the college from 1993 to 2002.
The dean chairs meetings of the College of Cardinals, whose members advise the pope and whose eligible electors choose his successor. Under canon law, the dean is first among equals and has no governing authority over fellow cardinals.
The office assumes particular importance when a pope dies or resigns. The dean convenes the cardinals for meetings ahead of a papal election and, if eligible to vote, presides over the conclave. Re carried out prominent duties after Pope Francis’ death in April 2025, presiding over the funeral and the Mass preceding the conclave that elected Leo XIV.
The office does not make its holder a designated successor to the pope. Since a reform introduced by Francis in 2019, the dean has served a renewable five-year term rather than holding the position for life.
Tagle’s election follows decades of service in the Philippines and the Vatican. He was appointed bishop of Imus in 2001 and archbishop of Manila in 2011, then made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI the following year. He took part in the conclave that elected Francis in 2013, and Francis named him prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in 2019.
