Pope Leo XIV reshuffles important Vatican posts in latest slate of appointments

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV today made the new appointments of Archbishops Edgar Peña Parra, Paolo Rudelli, and Petar Rajič official after details of all three having previously been reported through leaks.

On March 30, Leo enacted a series of senior appointments, naming Rajič as the new Prefect of the Pontifical Household, transferring Peña Parra to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to Italy and the Republic of San Marino, and appointing Rudelli as new Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State.

Leaked reports had anticipated this round of appointments, including at LifeSiteNews. On February 26, Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni documented the imminent transfer of the Substitute for the Secretariat of State, the Venezuelan Peña Parra, announcing that a formal request had been submitted to the Italian government to receive him as the new nuncio in Rome.

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Later, on March 5, Rajič’s name began circulating unofficially as the new Prefect of the Papal Household. His new appointment would have left the post of nuncio to Italy vacant, a position that would then be filled by Peña Parra.

Finally, on March 20, Spuntoni again reported that Rudelli, already papal nuncio in Colombia, would have replaced Peña Parra as the new Substitute for the Secretariat of State. All three predictions were therefore confirmed today.

Some Vatican observers have interpreted these appointments as an initial, cautious effort to reform the Secretariat of State; however, the available data do not in themselves demonstrate a structural reform. The pattern of transfers may also be read as a functional reorganization, particularly concerning the Pontifical Household. The role of prefect was left vacant since the time of the masked exile imposed by Francis on Archbishop Georg Gänswein, in 2024. In other words, there has been a reallocation of figures already integrated into the framework established under Francis.

Rudelli’s formation and career trajectory place him within the same diplomatic orientation associated with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the current Secretary of State of the Holy See, including a generally favorable stance toward secret agreements with China. This continuity suggests that his appointment does not necessarily indicate a shift in diplomatic orientation.

Nonetheless, Rajić’s appointment reflects Pope Leo’s decision to rely on an experienced diplomat – and therefore a reliable figure in matters of protocol and institutional relations – for an office as delicate and sensitive as the Prefecture of the Papal Household. In fact, Rajić’s appointment appears to be the driving factor behind the reassignment of the other two positions.

The Bosnian archbishop had, moreover, arrived in Rome on March 11, 2024, about three months before Gänswein was transferred to the Baltic states to replace him at the nunicature, on June 24, 2024, making more evident that this is a reallocation of figures who were already well established.

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The figure who drew the most attention, however, was Peña Parra, the Venezuelan archbishop whom Francis appointed Substitute of the Secretariat of State on August 15, 2018. According to sources, Peña Parra is said to have rejected two transfer proposals from the Pope in recent months, accepting the third in order to remain in Rome. By staying in Rome, he would still retain a certain degree of influence and control over curial dynamics, especially considering that the role of nuncio to Italy is almost purely formal.

Moreover, the nunciature in Italy has traditionally been regarded as an assignment that almost naturally leads to the cardinalate.

Last month, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò publicly criticized the possible appointment of Peña Parra as the new nuncio in Rome, recalling past accusations involving abuse and even cases of homicide – allegations he reported, unsuccessfully, in 2002 and again in 2018. Viganò had also urged the Italian government to deny the agreement, an appeal that evidently went unanswered.