BREAKING: Leo XIV Reorders the Curia with New Appointments

By Michael Haynes

Pope Leo XIV has moved the powerful number two in the Secretariat of State to be Nuncio to Italy and finally filled the role of head of the papal household, thus effecting a change believed to grant Leo more autonomy over his decisions and daily life.

Announced in the daily bulletin on March 30, Leo has enacted a veritable changing of the guard in a number of key Vatican posts, serving as one of the most significant moves of his pontificate so far.

Archbishop Peña Parra is leaving his post as “Sostituto” in the Secretariat of State, and taking up the role of Papal Nuncio to Italy and the Republic of San Marino.

The outgoing current Nuncio to Italy – Archbishop Petar Rajič – is brought to the very heart of the Vatican, becoming the Prefect of the Papal Household. This is a position left empty since the departure of Archbishop Georg Gänswein in February 2023.