Pope Leo names Cardinal Tagle, 2 Pinoy clergymen as members of Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday appointed two Filipino clergymen as members of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication.

They are Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, San Pablo Bishop Marcelino Antonio Maralit and Archbishop Ryan Jimenez of Agaña in Guam, according to the Vatican website.

The Dicastery for Communication oversees the entire communications network of the Vatican, ensuring the whole system supports the Church’s mission of evangelization, especially in today's presence of digital media and by the factors of convergence and interactivity.

It also develops the theological and pastoral aspects of the Church’s work in communication.

The other appointed clergymen are the following:

-Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu from Democratic Republic of the Congo

-Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero from Rabat, Morocco

-Cardinal Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão from India

-Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça from Portugal

-Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella from Italy

-Bishop Bernardin Francis Mfumbasa of Kondoa, Tanzania

-Bishop Lizardo Estrada Herrera from Cuzco, Peru

-Father Roberto Pasolini from Italy

In October 2025, Tagle was appointed to Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano in Italy, which is one of the seven historic sees immediately surrounding Rome.

According to the Pontificio Collegio Filippino, the assignment of the Albano title to Cardinal Tagle also follows “a significant moment in the life of the Church” as the see had been briefly assigned to Cardinal Robert Prevost, who was scheduled to formally take possession on May 10. However, Cardinal Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV on May 8.

Before his appointment in Rome, Tagle served as Manila archbishop from 2011 to 2020.

Meanwhile, Maralit serves as president of the Office of Social Communications of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences.

The Office of Social Communications oversees the management of Radio Veritas Asia, which is headquartered in Quezon City and works with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications to promote Catholic Church teachings.

Maralit became the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Social Communications chairman in 2019.

He was installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of San Pablo in Laguna in 2024.

Serving as president of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC), Jimenez was hailed in Dumaguete City and was ordained priest in 2003. 

He was then appointed Apostolic Administrator of Chalan Kanoa in 2010 and named second bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa in 2016. —Mariel Celine Serquiña/RF, GMA News