Vatican City – It took only one hundred and forty-one days for Leo XIV to set a firm, unmistakable seal on his pontificate. Not through a speech, but through a nomination. And not just any appointment: the Pope chose to begin with the Dicastery for Bishops, the very body he himself had led from April 12, 2023 until his election to the papacy. A decision that speaks louder than a thousand words: Prevost did not look for outsiders to the Curia, but preferred to promote those who, under the previous pontificate, had been forced to swallow more than a few bitter pills.
The name chosen is that of Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., a Neapolitan canon lawyer, until now Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. A man of law and balance, Iannone learned under Francis to step back: to absorb the blows, to remain silent. Not out of personal disagreement with the reigning Pope, but because in that season speaking of norms and law risked making one look like a foreign body. “Nothing has come here,” he was often forced to reply to requests for clarification, whether from within the Vatican or from the wider Catholic Church. Even the texts of the new decrees — constantly changing, sometimes from one day to the next — never reached the review of the Pontifical Council. The Argentine Pope’s aversion to codes, structures, and procedures was well known. And so Iannone, despite being promoted to head the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, remained sidelined, confined to a sector the Pope considered secondary, almost ornamental. Today, however, the cards are reshuffled. Leo XIV has chosen to entrust to a canonist, not an outsider but an insider of the Curia, the responsibility of identifying for the Pope the future bishops. It is a strong gesture, one that reveals a style of governance.
A few steps, calmly
Filippo Iannone will take office on October 15, 2025, assuming leadership of the Dicastery for Bishops and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In parallel, Leo XIV has confirmed ad aliud quinquennium the current Secretary of the Dicastery, Monsignor Ilson de Jesus Montanari, along with Monsignor Ivan Kovač, who will remain Under-Secretary. This decision too reflects Prevost’s style. His relationship with Montanari was never simple: during his tenure as prefect, the Secretary would often bypass him, preferring to appeal directly to Santa Marta to get what he wanted. With Francis, Montanari enjoyed a smoother rapport than with Prevost. It is no surprise, then, that when Leo XIV emerged from the Sistine Chapel, Montanari was not wearing the red zucchetto of a newly created cardinal — and no one found reason to be surprised.
Yet, unlike his predecessor, Leo XIV is not guided by grudges or vendettas. His line is different: to act calmly, without abrupt upheavals. First the prefect is changed, the rest will follow.
From law to the choice of shepherds
To understand the significance of the nomination, one must look at Iannone’s background. Born in Naples in 1957, he entered the Carmelites at a young age, studied at the Lateran University and at the Roman Rota, and is a canonist in the purest sense — a man formed among codes and ecclesiastical courts. Defender of the bond, judicial vicar, professor of canon law, rotal advocate: his résumé is a compendium of the Church’s juridical world. Yet alongside this, he also has pastoral experience: auxiliary bishop of Naples, then bishop of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo, later Vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome. He is a man who knows both the difficulties of the Church and the challenges of governance. During the years of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, he was noticed and promoted. John Paul II made him Italy’s youngest bishop in 2001. Benedict XVI called him to Rome as Vicegerent. Then, under Francis, came the presidency of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which under Praedicate Evangelium became a full-fledged Dicastery. Yet in that season, dominated by the idea that law should step aside before pastoral concerns, Iannone’s role remained gray, scarcely visible. And yet, Praedicate Evangelium had assigned a weighty mission to his office: authentic interpretation of laws, vigilance over illegitimate practices, promotion of canon law, assistance to bishops’ conferences. All crucial tasks, but often shelved because the Pope preferred to decide alone.
With Leo XIV, the landscape changes radically. The choice of entrusting the Dicastery for Bishops to a canon lawyer is no accident: the message is crystal clear. No more improvisation, but rules. No more favoritism, but transparent criteria. From the start, the new Pope made it clear he does not wish to replicate the “Bergoglio method.” In the selection of bishops, the process is restored: the prefect, with the Dicastery staff, conducts investigations, gathers opinions, listens to priests from both the dioceses of origin and those potentially receiving new shepherds; finally, he presents the names to the Pope. The Pope, in turn, is not the puppeteer who picks at whim, but the last to evaluate and decide. This marks the end of an era of improvisations and questionable practices, when mere proximity to Santa Marta was enough to obtain a diocese. Gone are the days of the so-called “Puglia Bella”, "Made in Puglia" or “Basilicata bella”, pools from which candidates were drawn not by merit but by friendships and favors, sometimes sealed with the delivery of fresh pasta to Santa Marta’s kitchens.
The Dicastery for Bishops: the beating heart of the Curia
The Dicastery Iannone is about to lead is one of the most delicate. The norms of Praedicate Evangeliumdescribe it precisely: it oversees the constitution of dioceses, the nomination and formation of bishops, supports pastors in governance, organizes the ad limina visits, safeguards unity and proper functioning of the particular Churches, and even involves the People of God in the selection of candidates. In other words, this is the beating heart of the Curia. Here it is decided who will lead Catholic communities worldwide. And therefore, it is also here that the future shape of the Church is decided: whether it will have bishops attentive to doctrine or prone to compromise, whether they will be caring fathers to their priests or despotic administrators, whether they will be pastors of prayer or diocesan managers, whether they will show prophetic courage or settle into mediocrity.
A nomination as a program of governance
Today’s nomination, therefore, is not a bureaucratic detail but a programmatic act. Leo XIV chose to begin here, and not by chance. Because everything depends on the quality of bishops: catechesis, liturgy, sacramental life, resource management, closeness to the poor, defense of the faith. A weak episcopate generates disoriented communities. A strong, just, deeply rooted episcopate becomes instead a sign of hope. In an age when the Church appears lost, fragmented, sometimes even bent to the fashions of the day, the decision to place a man of law at the head of episcopal appointments emerges as a precise response: salvation does not come through improvisation, but through seriousness, competence, and respect for the rules.
p.A.L.
Silere non possum