CARDINAL LUIS Antonio Tagle makes history as the first Asian dean of the College of Cardinals, according to a report by the Vatican News.
The 69-year-old cardinal’s election was approved by Pope Leo XIV on Oct. 9 following the resignation of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 92, after nearly seven years of service.
Before his election as dean, Tagle served as the Cardinal Bishop of Albano, the former title Pope Leo XIV assumed before becoming the papal head. He was touted as the ‘Asian Francis’ by the press during the 2025 conclave before Pope Leo XIV’s papacy.
As the college’s dean, Tagle will lead the cardinals on behalf of papal activities or conclave. The post does not grant the Filipino cardinal governing authority over other cardinals, but he is considered as primus inter pares (first among equals) among the Church’s highest ranking clerics.
Tagle will serve a five-year term as dean and may be renewed in position by election, according to Pope Francis’ motu propio.
Tagle was the Manila Archbishop from 2011 to 2020. He also worked as the pro-prefect of the Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches of the Dicastery for Evangelization in the years 2019 and 2022.
Tagle earned his Philosophy degree in San Jose Seminary in 1977, followed by his Master’s degree in Theology at the Loyola School of Theology in 1982. He later finished his licentiate and doctorate in the same study in the Catholic University of America in 1991.
The dean of the College of Cardinals is elected through the vote of 12 cardinal bishops of the Catholic Church. The selected dean has to be approved by the Pope before he assumes the position to coordinate with other cardinals and preside meetings. F — Jose Paulo Lorenzo Patacsil
