Cardinal Tagle Becomes First Asian Dean of Cardinals

Pope Leo has approved the election of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as the First Asian Dean of Cardinals, the Vatican announced Friday, making the Filipino prelate the first cleric from Asia to lead the elite body that will one day choose the next pope. Tagle was elected by his fellow cardinal bishops and confirmed by Leo, according to the Vatican announcement. The dean's office has almost always been held by Europeans, so the choice puts one of the Church's most recognizable figures in charge of its most secretive ritual.

Tagle, 69, leads the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Vatican department that oversees missionary work worldwide. Before moving to Rome he was the archbishop of Manila, where he earned a reputation as a warm, plain-spoken pastor. He goes by the nickname "Chito" and is known for an easy smile, and he was a close ally of Pope Francis. Reuters reported that he was widely seen as a likely papal candidate before the conclave that elected Leo. For many Filipino Catholics, his election as the First Asian Dean of Cardinals is a point of national pride.

What the dean actually does

The dean of the College of Cardinals is considered the "first among equals" among the Church's highest-ranking clerics. The title carries no governing power over the other cardinals. It does carry one enormous job: running the conclave, the locked-door election inside the Sistine Chapel that follows a pope's death or resignation. The dean is elected from among the cardinal bishops by his peers, confirmed by the pope, and serves a five-year term that can be renewed a single time. The office belonged to Europeans for almost all of its history. The exception in living memory was Cardinal Bernardin Gantin of Benin, who held the post through the nineteen-nineties, and Tagle's election as the First Asian Dean of Cardinals is the first time the office has gone to Asia.

The symbolism has a demographic engine behind it. Asia holds some of the fastest-growing Catholic communities in the world, and the Philippines counts more than eighty million Catholics, one of the largest Catholic populations anywhere. Tagle appeared on nearly every shortlist of papabile, the Italian term for cardinals viewed as plausible future popes, ahead of the May 2025 conclave. His selection as the First Asian Dean of Cardinals gives that momentum a formal place in the Church's hierarchy. EWTN Vatican reported that the Vatican announced his election on Friday, one day after the cardinals voted.

A changing of the guard

Tagle succeeds Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, who is retiring after holding the dean's chair since 2020. Re was made a cardinal by John Paul II and has worked in the Roman Curia since 1963. As the most senior cardinal bishop he officiated the 2013 conclave that elected Francis, walking the cardinals through rituals Tagle will now oversee as the First Asian Dean of Cardinals. The National Catholic Register reported that Leo accepted Re's resignation the same day he approved Tagle's election, closing one of the longest continuous careers in the modern Vatican.

The timing reflects a deliberate choice by the new pontificate. When Leo was elected, every senior Vatican official automatically lost his post, and the new pope decided whom to keep. Leo initially confirmed Re and kept Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri as vice-dean, then approved the switch. Leo, 71, is considered young for a pope and is in good health, so the next conclave may be years away. Still, the new First Asian Dean of Cardinals starts the quiet work now: summoning cardinals to Rome and guarding the procedures that keep a conclave secret.

Tagle keeps his existing portfolio alongside the new title. He remains in charge of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the Church's missionary arm, which means his influence now covers both the Church's outward mission and its innermost election. The fixed term means his deanship will be judged on how he handles the office rather than how long he keeps it. For younger Catholics who have only ever seen European men run the conclave, a smiling Filipino cardinal presiding over the Sistine Chapel's closed doors is something new.