Cardinal Tagle Elected Dean of the College of Cardinals, First Asian to Hold Post
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, succeeding Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. Pope Leo XIV approved the election and accepted Re's resignation. Tagle becomes the first Asian to serve as dean.
Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, becoming the first Asian prelate to hold the position. The Vatican announced the appointment on Oct. 9, stating that Pope Leo XIV approved Tagle's election on Oct. 8 and accepted the resignation of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who had served as dean since 2020.
Tagle, 69, succeeds the 92-year-old Italian cardinal who was made a cardinal by St. John Paul II in 2001 and had worked in the Roman Curia since 1963. Re officiated the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis as the most senior cardinal-bishop. Pope Francis had approved Re as dean in 2020 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.
According to canon law, the cardinal dean is elected from among the cardinal bishops, of whom there were 12 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.
Tagle has served as pro-prefect for the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization since 2019. Before his appointment to the Roman Curia, he served as archbishop of Manila from 2011 to 2020. He has also been appointed as papal legate to several milestone Church events, including the 10th National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July 2024 and the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen in St. Louis in September 2026.
After Leo XIV's election to the papacy in 2025, 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. Before being elected pope, 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.
The appointment marks a significant shift in the leadership of the College of Cardinals, which plays a central role in the governance of the Catholic Church and the election of future popes. As dean, Tagle will preside over the college's meetings and serve as a key figure in the preparation of a conclave. His election as the first Asian dean reflects the increasingly global composition of the church's leadership.
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