Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle Elected New Dean of the College of Cardinals
- Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, becoming the first Asian prelate to hold the high-ranking Vatican post, Vatican News reported.
- The appointment marks a significant shift in the Vatican hierarchy as Tagle steps in to lead the ancient college of Catholic cardinals.
- The leadership change began when Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re submitted his resignation after leading the College of Cardinals for nearly seven years, according to Agência ECCLESIA.
Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, becoming the first Asian prelate to hold the high-ranking Vatican post, Vatican News reported. Pope Leo XIV approved the election on October 8, 2026, after cardinals of the Order of Bishops chose the 69-year-old Filipino official to succeed the 92-year-old Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
The appointment marks a significant shift in the Vatican hierarchy as Tagle steps in to lead the ancient college of Catholic cardinals. Vatican News and Infovaticana noted that Tagle takes over administrative coordination without holding direct hierarchical governing authority over his peers, operating instead as a primus inter pares. Born in Manila in 1957, Tagle served as bishop of Imus and archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2019 before being made a cardinal in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.
How the Vatican Transition Unfolded
The leadership change began when Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re submitted his resignation after leading the College of Cardinals for nearly seven years, according to Agência ECCLESIA. Re, an influential figure in the Roman Curia who served across four pontificates from John Paul II to Leo XIV, had his mandate extended by Pope Francis in January 2025. Re, 92, was created a cardinal by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2001 and has worked in the Roman Curia since 1963. Pope Francis brought Tagle to Rome as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, elevated him to the Order of Bishops in 2020, and maintained him as pro-prefect of the section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelicalization following the Curia reform.
Following Re’s retirement, the cardinals of the Order of Bishops cast their votes on October 8, 2026, choosing Tagle for the post, as reported by ACI Digital. Pope Leo XIV approved the election the same day, formally accepting Re’s resignation and ending Re’s tenure that included presiding over the funeral of Pope Francis in April 2025 and the subsequent Conclave that elected Leo XIV. During the solemn Mass for the beginning of the Petrine ministry on May 18, 2025, in Saint Peter’s Square, it was Tagle who handed the Fisherman’s ring to the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.
Under structural reforms introduced by Pope Francis in a 2019 motu proprio, the office of the dean is no longer a lifetime appointment. The rules now set a five-year term that can be renewed once, a change prompted by the growing number of cardinals and mounting administrative responsibilities across the global church, Vatican News explained. Previously, the position of dean was considered a lifetime appointment.
Titles and Responsibilities of the New Dean
As the newly appointed dean, Tagle will assume the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Ostia while retaining his prior title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano, which Pope Leo XIV assigned to him in May 2025, according to Infovaticana and Gazeta do Povo reports. Meanwhile, Re takes the newly created designation of dean emeritus and keeps the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Vatican News stated.
Infovaticana pointed out that Tagle’s election makes him the first cardinal elector to hold the deanship since Angelo Sodano turned 80 in 2007. As a cardinal under the age of 80, Tagle retains the right to enter the Sistine Chapel and direct a future conclave if the Holy See becomes vacant before he turns 80 in June 2037, according to Infovaticana.
ACI Digital noted that the dean’s primary duties involve convening the cardinals in Rome in the Pope’s name, coordinating their activities, and presiding over pre-conclave general congregations. According to the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, it falls to the dean to communicate the death of the Pontiff to the diplomatic corps and heads of state, summon the cardinals, preside over the general congregations prior to the conclave, and, by custom, celebrate the funeral rites of the deceased Pope. The communications from the Holy See confirmed that the vice-decania remains under the leadership of Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.
Em 8 de outubro de 2026, o Romano Pontífice aprovou a eleição, efetuada pelos eminentíssimos senhores cardeais da Ordem dos Bispos, do decano do Colégio Cardinalício, na pessoa do eminentíssimo senhor cardeal Luis Antonio G.
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