Manila archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle steps up to the next level of office in the Roman Catholic Church as one of the 11 highest ranking cardinals in Vatican.
Pope Francis promoted former Manila archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle to the rank of cardinal-bishop on April 14, 2020 but officially announce by the Catholic Church on Friday, May 1, 2020.
According to the rector of the “Pontificio Collegio Filippino”, Father Greg Gaston, Tagle is the first Filipino to hold office of a cardinal-bishop which is the highest rank in the College of Cardinals followed by the cardinal-priest and cardinal deacon.
There are selected group of 223 bishops in the Roman Catholic Church that helps the Pope in running overall church operation all over the world with 1.2-billion solid Catholic believers.
Gaston added that these 11 cardinal-bishops are assisting the Pope in coordinating with cardinals all of the world. Gaston also added that Togle is now very close to the pontiff as “consultors” of the Pope.
Gaston also noted that from this rank of cardinal-bishops the Dean of the College of Cardinals is selected.
The Dean holds the office of the “first among equals” in the College of Cardinals. Its role is to govern the Vatican whenever the pope terminates his office, resigns or die. In the case that the office of the papacy is vacant, the Dean is in-charge of calling other cardinals to Rome to elect a new pope successor of his office. If the Dean’s age is under 80-year-old, he will be a part of the presiding team of the papal election.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was once hold the office of cardinal-bishop and Dean of the College of Cardinals.
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis is grooming Tagle to become a potential successor as Pope. This report coincided during the recognition of Vatican in the 500th year of the Christianity in the Philippines in 2021.
Before the promotion of Tagle, he was already one among the prefects or members of the Pope’s cabinet helping to run the Vatican bureaucracy. Tagle was a prefect of the “Congregation for Evangelization of People” responsible of spreading the Roman Catholic faith all over the world.
If the reforms of the Vatican bureaucracy push by Pope Francis will be materialized, Tagle’s new office will be recognized as the second most important office in the Vatican, giving him greater chance of becoming the next Pope.
