Cardinal Tagle elected dean of College of Cardinals —CBCP News

Pope Leo XIV has approved the election of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as dean of the College of Cardinals, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) News reported Friday.

Tagle, 69, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization’s Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, succeeds Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, who has held the post since January 2020.

Tagle is the first Asian cleric selected to lead the elite group that one day will choose Leo's successor.

Tagle has served as a senior Vatican official since 2020. He was widely seen as a likely papal candidate in the May 2025 conclave that elected Leo to lead the Church after the death of the late Pope Francis.

The dean of the college of cardinals is considered the "first among equals" among the Church's highest-ranking clerics and is responsible for taking charge of the secretive conclave process, held in the Sistine Chapel, once a pope dies or resigns.

The dean, elected by his peers and approved by the pope, serves a five-year term that can be renewed once, according to Church law. The role has mostly been filled by Europeans, but was held by the late Beninese Cardinal Bernardin Gantin from 1993-2002.

Tagle was seen as a close ally of Pope Francis and is known for an infectious smile and is sometimes called by his diminutive nickname "Chito". He leads the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization, effectively the Church's missionary arm. —With a report from Reuters/LDF, GMA News