How might Archbishop Iannone, new prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops, shape the role?

A common complaint of late among the Vaticanisti has been that, so far, Pope Leo XIV has had a rather “boring” pontificate. Compared to the early days of the Francis pontificate, that could be rather true. But, given the swirl of off-the-cuff remarks and unorthodox approach in those days that sometimes led to confusion and division in the church — is finding Leo a bit uneventful really a problem?

Some in the media are eager to portray Leo as in continuity with his predecessor, perhaps a necessary step to give hope that many of the more controversial aspects of that era have a future. While Pope Leo clearly has been intent on showing no contention with Francis’ official teaching, continuity in style and mode of governance has appeared to be much different. One point of immediate contrast, however, is Pope Leo’s priority of the papacy’s mission of unity, something that was often threatened in Francis’ pontificate and as such resulted in a more polarized and divided church — particularly exemplified most recently in “Traditionis Custodes,” the 2021 document putting strict limitations on the celebration of Mass using the 1962 Missal, and “Fiducia Supplicans,” the 2023 document that allowed for non-liturgical, pastoral blessings of same-sex couples.

Pope Leo has shown he has little interest in issues that divide, and even less patience for promoting them. For example, he has expressed openness to a dialogue with Catholics attracted to traditional forms of worship — an approach in which Rome and many bishops have not necessarily taken following “Traditionis Custodes.”

In a recent interview with Crux’s Elise Allen, Leo indicated a way to move forward on this divisive issue, saying it is “an issue that I think also, maybe with synodality, we have to sit down and talk about. It’s become the kind of issue that’s so polarized that people aren’t willing to listen to one another, oftentimes.”

In another portion of the same interview, Leo criticized the abuses that have been permitted to flow from the controversial “Fiducia Supplicans,” which “goes specifically against the document that Pope Francis approved … which basically says, of course we can bless all people, but it doesn’t look for a way of ritualizing some kind of blessing because that’s not what the Church teaches.”

For those inclined to tasseography, the biggest indicator of how Pope Leo might govern the church so far can be found in the Sept. 26 appointment of Archbishop Filippo Iannone as then-Cardinal Prevost’s successor as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Interestingly, Pope Leo took over four months to make the selection of his successor, four times longer than it took Pope Benedict XVI to choose who would take his place at what was then the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position he had held for over two decades.

The curial veteran takes the reins of a dicastery that, in the past decade, sources say, sometimes operated in a more unconventional fashion, following a less transparent and objective process for nomination of bishop than has been the expected protocol. In certain circumstances, this left the process open to maneuvering, which not only weakened the prefect’s authority and influence, but opened the door to the promotion of more ideologically minded candidates.

Before his election as pope, the former Cardinal Prevost oversaw, since 2023, a dicastery that had already a decade of adaptation to Francis’ unorthodox leadership approach. As early as 2014, this approach could be seen in the appointment to a major see like Chicago.

That spring, the late Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George informed the apostolic nuncio to the United States that he believed it was time to begin the process of identifying his successor. Rumors have long swirled about that particular appointment process, and claims have even been made that George’s eventual successor was not named on the typical terna of candidates presented to the pope.

George confirmed in a 2014 interview with EWTN that the plenary session of the Congregation for Bishops had not met to discuss the appointment. “I think that it was supposed to happen a little later, and they would’ve had a chance to meet, but because my own health is so uncertain, I think they moved the whole thing up a bit. And so, they created a process where the pope I think was — perhaps, but I’m not sure — more directly involved in consulting outside of the circles of consultation. But I don’t know that for sure. I suspect that’s probably true.” Most notable of all, though, was that George said, “I don’t know who he consulted,” indicating, quite surprisingly for a man of his caliber, that he had been left out of the process.

The Dicastery for Bishops oversees not just the process for nominating bishops in most dioceses throughout the world, but also investigates complaints against bishops, as well as handling the organization of ad limina visits made to Rome by bishops every five years.

While the former Cardinal Prevost’s brief tenure at the bishops’ dicastery did not reveal much about himself and his priorities, now as pope he is perhaps revealing something about what a longer Prevost tenure might have brought to the position. So what might Archbishop Iannone bring?

Archbishop Iannone rapidly rose through the episcopal ranks in the pontificates of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI — Italy’s youngest bishop at the time of his nomination to the episcopacy as an auxiliary of Naples in 2001 — and was brought to Rome in 2012 at the request of Cardinal Agostino Vallini, conservative vicar of Rome under Benedict, as vicegerent. Characteristics that have been identified negatively by The Pillar’s Ed Condon, who likened Archbishop Iannone to a “good soldier” or “company man,” are probably more accurately described by Catholic News Agency’s Andrea Gargliaducci at the time of Iannone’s 2018 nomination as head of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts as “a natural ability to work behind the curtain.” This proved true early in his tenure in Rome, where Iannone was entrusted with an investigation of a financial corruption scandal at a church-run hospital.

Iannone, who is said to have had a heavy hand in the 2023 rewrite of “Vos estis lux mundi,” now oversees the dicastery that ensures the proper implementation of the controversial and opaque process for bishops to investigate their own.

Likewise reflecting Leo’s unifying approach, Archbishop Iannone appears to be allergic to ideology and controversy. Iannone’s signature appeared on a letter earlier this year cautioning against the publication of lists of clergy accused of sexual misconduct, particularly “with respect to divulging confidential news concerning anyone, especially in the case concerning deceased persons.”

This echoes concerns recently expressed by Pope Leo on the same matter in the Crux interview, when he observed, “the accused also have rights, and many of them believe that those rights have not been respected.”

Archbishop Iannone brings the experience of a longtime Vatican insider, though it is unclear how much the late pope, who had a penchant for making decisions in a vacuum, relied on him.

Out of the gate, that puts his appointment in contrast to Francis’ vision of valuing an “outsider,” namely Prevost, for the position. That Prevost, who himself possessed a doctorate in canon law, has named Iannone, a career canonist, to the position indicates that he likely saw the value such a background brings to the position, perhaps with the goal of restoring a more transparent and objective process for the nomination of bishops.

All eyes are now on him in this new key role, especially watching to see how he manifests what Leo prioritizes.

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