Pope Francis Appoints Luis Cardinal Tagle as Cardinal Bishop

Pope Francis has added cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle (The Philippines) and Benjamino Stella (Italy) to the Order of Bishops in the College of Cardinals. He has also appointed Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari (Brazil) as vice camerlengo, or chamberlain.

The Vatican announced all last May 1, and added that the pope has also appointed a new nuncio to Iraq, the Slovenian-born diplomat Monsignor Mitja Leskovar, who now becomes an archbishop.

The promotions of Cardinals Tagle and Stella to the order of bishops puts them in the highest of the three “orders” of cardinals. According to the Code of Canon Law, the college of cardinals is divided into the order of bishops, the order of priests and the order of deacons.

The order of bishops is comprised of the cardinals whom the pope has appointed as titular heads of a suburbicarian church, which are ancient churches in dioceses around the city of Rome, and the Eastern Rite patriarchs who are cardinals. Canon 352 states that the cardinals (of the Latin church) who are the titular heads of the suburbicarian churches have the right to elect one of their members as dean of the college of cardinals when the post is vacant.

Below is the role and classification of the order of cardinals