Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will continue serving in his dicastery role assigned by the late Pope Francis until Pope Leo XIV designates new officials for the Roman Curia.
Tagle disclosed receiving a communication confirming the new pope retains all current Roman Curia officials until further notice.
“He didn’t say there will be a new one in a month. So he needs time to reflect on this,” Tagle said in a mix of English and Filipino during a Thursday (Manila time) press conference at the Pontificio Colegio Filipino in Rome, Italy.
“We wait for him to make the changes if he wants to make the changes,” he added.
Per tradition, the heads of the Roman Curia’s dicasteries, known as “prefects,” vacate their posts upon the death of a pope to allow the incoming pontiff to appoint his own officials.
It was initially understood that Tagle and other prefects had vacated their positions upon Pope Francis’ passing on April 11.
Tagle was appointed in 2022 by Pope Francis as the pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, a key office of the Roman Curia where the sitting pope holds the title of prefect.