Pope Leo XIV confirmed Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 69, as the new dean of the College of Cardinals on Oct. 8, following his election by the cardinal bishops gathered in Rome.

Cardinal Tagle is the first Asian and the first Filipino to be elected to this important office, which dates back to the 12th century and plays a prominent role in papal transitions and conclaves. 

He succeeds the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, who has held that office since 2020 and whose resignation Pope Leo accepted today. After the death of Pope Francis in April 2025, Cardinal Re presided over the pre-conclave meetings of cardinals, known as general congregations, that led to the election of the first American pope; he could not preside over the conclave because of the age limit of 80. 

Cardinal Tagle, popularly known as “Chito,” is a charismatic, inspiring and humble spiritual leader. He studied in the Philippines, the United States and Italy, and after serving as bishop of the Diocese of Imus from 2001 to 2011, was appointed by Pope Benedict as the archbishop of Manila in 2011. Benedict made him cardinal a year later at his last consistory. 

The Filipino cardinal participated in the March 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, and welcomed the first Latin American pope to the Philippines in 2015. He was elected president of Caritas Internationalis that same year, and he traveled the globe advocating for the poor and downtrodden. In 2022, the top officials of Caritas, including Cardinal Tagle, were removed by Pope Francis after a review of the organization found deficiencies in management and poor staff morale. 

Pope Francis called him to Rome at the end of 2019 to head the then Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which oversees and assists the churches in mission lands. Following Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia, that congregation became the number one dicastery in the Vatican. Since the pope is now the dicastery’s prefect, the cardinal became pro-prefect for its Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches, a post Cardinal Tagle continues to hold.

Cardinal Tagle participated in the last conclave and was considered a papal contender (“papabile”). He did so as a member of the order of cardinal bishops, and because of the hierarchical ranking in that order, he was seated next to Cardinal Robert Prevost, a close friend. They sat together throughout the pre-conclave meetings and in the conclave in the Sistine Chapel that elected the first American pope. At the Mass for the inauguration of the Petrine ministry of Leo XIV on May 18, 2025, Cardinal Tagle placed the fisherman’s ring on the finger of the first Augustinian pope in what was one of the profoundly emotional moments of that celebration.

Cardinal Tagle now takes up the role of dean of the College of Cardinals. Pope Francis addressed the question of that office in an apostolic letter in 2019 when he accepted the resignation of Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Cardinal Sodano had held the office for 15 years, after succeeding Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when the latter was elected pope in April 2005. Cardinal Ratzinger was the ninth dean of the College of Cardinals to be elected pope.

In his apostolic letter, Francis reaffirmed that the cardinals are called to elect “the Supreme Pastor of the church” and to assist him “in treating issues of the greatest relevance in the daily care of the universal church.”

The College of Cardinals is divided into three tiers called “orders”: cardinal deacons, cardinal priests and cardinal bishops. Francis confirmed the tradition written in the Code of Canon Law that the dean is to be elected by the cardinal bishops, but he expanded the composition of that order by including a number of cardinals who are heads of the Vatican dicasteries. Today, the order of cardinal bishops has 12 members, but only three are under the age of 80 and able to vote in a conclave: Cardinals Tagle, Pietro Parolin and Louis Raphaël Sako.

In his apostolic letter, Francis highlighted “the singular place, within the College of Cardinals, that belongs to the Cardinal Dean, and in his place, to the Sub-Dean, called to exercise among the brother Cardinals a fraternal and fruitful presidency of primacy inter pares (cf. can. 352 § 1)”; in other words, the dean is “first among equals” in the College of Cardinals. 

At the same time, “having regard to the fact that with the increase in the number of cardinals, ever greater commitments are being placed on the person of the Cardinal Dean,” Pope Francis decreed that the cardinal dean is to “remain in office for a five-year period, renewable if necessary, and at the end of his service he may assume the title of Dean Emeritus of the College of Cardinals.” Until Francis’ decree, the cardinal dean could remain in office for life or until he resigned, but that is no longer the case. 

The constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis” for the election of the pope issued by St. John Paul II decrees that “the Dean of the College of Cardinals, for his part, as soon as he has been informed of the Pope’s death by the Cardinal Camerlengo or the Prefect of the Papal Household, shall inform all the Cardinals and convoke them for the Congregations of the College.” 

It also says that “He shall also communicate news of the Pope’s death to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See and to the Heads of the respective Nations.”

Furthermore, the dean presides over the pre-conclave plenary assembly of cardinals, and, if he is under 80, he also presides over the ensuing conclave. When a cardinal is elected to be pope, the cardinal dean (if presiding over the conclave) asks him if he accepts the election and, on receiving a positive reply, asks what name he will take.

The cardinal bishops usually elect a dean and a vice dean to be confirmed by the pope. Today, however, the Vatican made no mention of a vice dean. It could be that because of the age of the current cardinal bishops, Leo XIV may wish to appoint other cardinals to the order of cardinal bishops before the vice dean is elected.

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.