Leo XIV makes his first major Curial appointment: Iannone for Bishops -- a Rorate Analysis

 ARCHBISHOP FILIPPO IANNONE, O.Carm, PREFECT OF BISHOPS

A Rorate Analysis of the Pope's First Prefect

by Serre Verweij

Celebrating a mass of Paul VI at Isola del Liri, Latium, in 2018

After four and a half months, Pope Leo XIV has finally announced his own replacement as prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops. Rather than an obscure outsider from the peripheries, he appointed the current prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, Archbishop Filippo Iannone (age 67), a native of Naples, Campania, as the new prefect. Both the secretary of the Dicastery for Bishops, Brazilian Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, and the undersecretary, Bosnian Fr. Ivan Kovac, have been confirmed for new five year terms, suggesting a desire for gradual reform over revolutionary shakeups on the part of Pope Leo.

As Iannone is an Italian and an experienced prefect with longstanding ties in Rome, he seems to represent a return to normalcy, to the old ways.

Yet, while hardly a curial outsider, to many he is almost virtually an unknown. What can be known about him for sure and what does it suggest regarding the future Pope Leo’s papacy?

A Canon Lawyer and a Carmelite

The fact that like the new Pope, he is an expert in canon law stands out, and, again as Pope Leo, he is from a religious order, being a Carmelite (he is in fact the first Carmelite prefect*). Yet, this does not do justice to his rich experience and detailed career, as he has both extensive legal and pastoral experience.

An Active Priest

As a novice in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he earned both a doctorate of civil and canon law at the Pontifical Lateran University and a bachelor's degree in theology at the Papal Theological Seminary of Southern Italy, as well as the title of ‘avvocato rotale’ after a study at the Roman Rota.

After he became a priest, he served as judicial vicar, episcopal vicar, and finally as vicar general in the archdiocese of Naples. 

Young Italian bishop and rising Roman figure

Pope John Paul II made him auxiliary bishop of Naples in early 2001, when he was just 43 years old, making him the youngest bishop of Italy at the time. Then, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Sora-Cassino-Aquino-Pontecorvo. 

At the urging of the conservative Cardinal Vallini, (who spoke out strongly against homosexual priests, and was himself a talented canon lawyer and prefect in the Curia), Pope Benedict advanced Iannone’s career further and made him vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome and archbishop in 2012. In his new role, he specifically dealt with alleged financial corruption at the Istituto Dermopatico dell'Immacolata, a hospital linked to an important religious order. Italian journalist Andrea Gagliaducci would describe him in 2018 as wildly liked for being discrete and effective in dealing with problems behind the curtain.

Under Francis: Prefect, yet second place?

In November, 2017 he was first made adjunct-secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, before finally being made prefect in the spring of 2018. 

Shortly after Iannone was made adjunct-secretary, the secretary of the dicastery, Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, was involved in actively supporting the liberal interpretation of Amoris Laetitia implemented by the Argentinian bishops and supported by Pope Francis and Cardinal Parolin, which allowed the divorced remarried to receive communion in certain limited cases, without having to abstain from sexual acts. Iannone’s predecessor as prefect, the controversial Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, took a similar supportive stance.

Iannone himself never expressed support for this, either during his brief time as adjunct-secretary amidst this controversy, nor during his seven years as the new prefect. 

There were those who expected De Chinchetru to be named the new prefect, similar to how Montanari was said to be Francis’ preferred choice to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and favored over Prevost as prefect. De Chinchetru was also specifically invited as one of the papal delegates to the Synod on Synodality, while Iannone was never made cardinal by Francis. 

According to The Pillar, they were informed by several Vatican sources that Iannone rejected a push for radical reforms of the Code of Canon Law, advocated by radical progressive Jesuit Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, a close advisor to Francis. He reaffirmed the absolute prohibition on Catholics joining Freemasonry.

It is also claimed that he oversaw the drafting of Vos Estis Lux Mundi, which provided new mechanisms for dealing with accusations of abuse and mismanagement against bishops.

He also drafted a legal document in 2019 which supported Cardinal Ouellet early on in his attempts to halt the promotion of the synodal way by the Germans bishops. “Synodality in the Church, to which Pope Francis refers often, is not synonymous with democracy or majority decisions.”

Also of crucial importance is the fact that he attended each of the meetings between State Secretary Parolin and the curial prefects on one side, and the German bishops on the other. He never tried to avoid clashes or controversy by having Secretary De Chinchetru attend instead, as happened with Roche who was absent at the first meeting, with Secretary Viola representing his dicastery instead.

He has also been described as someone who ‘seems to like liturgical finery.’

Prudent like Prevost or a yes man?

The Pillar suggested in another of their articles that Iannone had largely let Secretary De Chinchetru take the lead in the dicastery, himself not being very hands on. This seems at odds with their main article on him which describes his leading role in several import canon law reforms.

The idea being suggested is that he is (too) deferential and not a real leader and would therefore (be intended by Pope Leo to) defer to the more liberal Montanari. With all due respect for The Pillar’s expertise and consistently fine report, this notion appears highly questionable for a variety of reasons.

These include the aforementioned facts that he personally attended all the (confrontational) meetings with the Germans bishops and signed the letters condemning the Synodal Path, that he was fast-tracked for multiple promotions under John Paul II and Benedict XVI and was the favorite of Cardinal Vallini, who was highly effective and strong in his role; as well as the reality that, under Francis, it eventually became clear that it was advisable to keep one’s head down, especially as a prefect.

Perhaps most importantly, he did not publicly embrace or defend dubious ideas and practices popular in Rome during Francis’ pontificate.

Prevost was similarly quiet and reserved under Francis, ever while sometimes being outmaneuvered by an activist Secretary Montanari. 

Perhaps Iannone, like Cardinal Prevost, was quiet and discrete, working under Francis, and dealing with a more liberal secretary who often got to call the shots, while actually being as much of a force of orthodoxy and law as possible. If so, Pope Leo may have appointed the perfect bishop to replace him in his old role, as a prefect who will appoint wise bishops who knows the law flows from God, rather than being in contradiction to His love. 

We can only hope...

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* Rorate note: the first prefect at least from the Order of Mount Carmel (O.Carm.) -- Cardinal Raffaele Rossi, a Discalced Carmelite (OCD), was Prefect of the Congregation for the Consistory, the antecessor of the Congregation for Bishops, in the first half of the 20th century