Metro Manila, Philippines – Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has been elected dean of the College of Cardinals, the highest-ranking member of the body responsible for electing a new pope.
The Vatican announced Friday, Oct. 9, that the 69-year-old former Manila archbishop was elected a day earlier by members of the Order of Cardinal-Bishops, succeeding 92-year-old Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
Tagle will lead the College of Cardinals, one of the Catholic Church’s oldest institutions, after Re held the position for nearly seven years.
As dean, Tagle will coordinate the activities of the world’s cardinals and play a central role in organizing a future papal conclave when the Holy See becomes vacant.
Under church rules, the dean is responsible for convening a conclave and presiding over the election of a new pope, provided he is below 80 years old and eligible to vote.
The position, however, does not give Tagle governing authority over other cardinals. The dean serves as primus inter pares, or first among equals.
Tagle is currently pro-prefect of the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches within the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization.
According to the Holy See, he will assume the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Ostia while retaining his existing title of the Suburbicarian Church of Albano.
Re steps down at 92
Re, a longtime Vatican official who served under four pontificates, will retain the title of the Suburbicarian Church of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto and become dean emeritus.
He was appointed dean in 2020, succeeding Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and was reappointed by Pope Francis in January 2025.
Re presided over Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26, 2025, and the Mass for the Election of the Pope on May 7, ahead of the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
His departure follows reforms introduced by Pope Francis in 2019, which ended the lifetime tenure of the Dean of the College of Cardinals.
Under the revised rules, the dean serves a five-year term, renewable once.
The reform was intended to address the growing responsibilities of the position as the number of cardinals increased.
With reports from Vatican News
