Vatican City; October 2026: Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, succeeding Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who has held the position since 2020. The Filipino prelate is the first Asian to serve as dean.
The Vatican announced Tagle’s appointment on 09th October. In the same announcement, Pope Leo XIV approved Tagle’s election one day earlier, on 08th October, and accepted Re’s resignation on the same day.
Resignation of the Dean and approval of the election of the new Dean of the College of Cardinals -
The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the office of Dean of the College of Cardinals presented by His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who assumes the title of Dean emeritus of the same College and retains the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto.
Furthermore, on 08th October 2026, the Roman Pontiff approved the election, made by the Most Eminent Cardinals of the Order of Bishops, of the Dean of the College of Cardinals, in the person of His Eminence Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation in the Section for First Evangelisation and the New Particular Churches, who will assume the Title of the Suburbicarian Church of Ostia, retaining the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.
Resignation and appointment of the Bishop of Lucera-Troia (Italy) and union in person of the Bishops of the sees of Foggia-Bovino and Lucera-Troia -
The Holy Father has accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Lucera-Troia (Italy), presented by H.E. Messenger Giuseppe Giuliano. The Holy Father has appointed H.E. Messenger Giorgio Ferretti, metropolitan archbishop of Foggia-Bovino, as bishop of Lucera-Troia (Italy), uniting the two sees in persona Episcopi.
Curriculum vitae -
H.E. Messenger Giorgio Ferretti was born on 27th November 1967 in Genoa, in the province and archdiocese of the same name. He graduated in Philosophy at the University of Genoa and has taught Religion at various high schools in Genoa. He obtained a Licentiate in Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome in 2004.
He was ordained a priest on 06th November 2004 for the Diocese of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino, as a member of the Missionary Fraternity of Sant'Egidio.
He has held the following positions:
·Pastoral Collaborator in the Parish of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome (2004-2008);
·Responsible for relations with South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland (now eSwatini), Botswana for the Community of Sant'Egidio (since 2005);
·Personal Secretary to the Bishop of Frosinone-Veroli-Ferentino (2008-2016);
·Director of the "Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue" Office of the same Diocese and Member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council (2009-2016);
·Assistant of the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors of the Province of Frosinone (2010-2016); Assistant of the Scout Association of Europe (2012-2016);
·Member of the Ethics Committee of the ASL of Frosinone (2013-2015);
·Parish priest in solidum of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, of the Parish of Ss. Annunziata and of the Parish of San Benedetto in Frosinone (2013-2016);
·Head of the Diocesan Soup Kitchen for the Poor (2014-2016).
Since 2017 he has been a fidei donum priest in the Archdiocese of Maputo, in the Republic of Mozambique, parish priest of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral and member of the Presbyteral Council.
Elected to the Metropolitan See of Foggia-Bovino on 18 November 2023, he received episcopal consecration on the following 9 December.
Within the Italian Episcopal Conference, he is a member of the Episcopal Commission for the evangelisation of peoples and cooperation between the Churches. Within the Regional Episcopal Conference, he is Bishop Delegate for Charity.
According to canon law, the cardinal dean is elected from among the cardinal bishops (12 cardinal-bishops as of October 2026). Among the dean’s responsibilities is to summon the cardinals to Rome on the pope’s behalf, particularly for a papal conclave. However, he has no governing authority over them.
After Leo XIV’s election to the papacy, all curial officials automatically lost their positions. However, Leo confirmed Re as dean and Argentine cardinal Leonardo Sandri as vice-dean, a position Sandri still holds.
Pope Francis had approved Re in 2020 as dean of the college while setting a new five-year term of service for deans with the possibility of renewal. Previously, the position of dean, considered “first among equals”, was a lifetime appointment. Re, 92, was made a cardinal by St. John Paul II in 2001 and has worked in the Roman Curia since 1963. He officiated the 2013 conclave, which elected Pope Francis, as the most senior cardinal-bishop.
Tagle, 69, has served as the pro-prefect for the Section for First Evangelisation and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelisation since 2019. Before his appointment to the Roman Curia, he served as archbishop of Manila from 2011–2020.
Tagle has also been appointed as papal legate to several milestone Church events, including in the United States. He was appointed legate to the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July 2024 and to the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen in St. Louis in September 2026.
Before being elected pope in 2025, Leo XIV, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost, was chosen by Francis as the titular cardinal-bishop of Albano. Soon after his election, the pontiff assigned his former cardinal title to Tagle, and Tagle formally took possession of the see in October of the same year.
Team Maverick.
