BOMBSHELL: POPE LEO XIV NAMES HIS SUCCESSOR! AND LIKE ME, HE’S FROM NAPLES! WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THAT!

This is a commentary from Silere non possum on the successor to Pope Leo and what it says about Pope Leo’s governance of the Church and it is good news indeed! 

Vatican City – One hundred and forty-one days were enough for Leo XIV to give his pontificate its first, decisive seal of governance. Not a speech, but an appointment. And not just any appointment: the Pope chose to begin with the Dicastery for Bishops, the body he himself led from April 12, 2023, until his election to the papacy. A decision that speaks for itself, more than a thousand words: Prevost did not seek figures outside the Curia, but preferred to highlight those who, during the previous pontificate, had had to swallow many bitter pills.

The chosen name is that of Archbishop Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., a Neapolitan canonist, until now Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts. A figure of law and balance, Iannone is a man who during the Francis era has learned to step back: absorb the blows, remain silent. Not because of a lack of personal harmony with the reigning Pontiff, but because, at that time, discussing norms and law risked appearing like an outsider. "Nothing has arrived here," he was often forced to respond to requests for clarification from both the Vatican City and the rest of the Catholic Church. Even the texts of new provisions—which changed constantly, sometimes from one day to the next—were not examined by the Pontifical Council. The Argentine Pope's aversion to the code, its schemas, and its procedures was well known. And so Iannone, although promoted to lead the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, remained on the sidelines, confined to an area the Pontiff considered secondary, almost a frill.

Today, however, the cards are being reshuffled. Leo XIV has decided to entrust a canonist—not someone from outside, but one within the Curia, by now—with the responsibility of indicating future bishops to the Pope. It is a strong gesture, which suggests a style of government.The Dicastery for Bishops: the Beating Heart of the Curia

The Dicastery Iannone is preparing to lead is one of the most delicate. The norms of Praedicate Evangelium describe it precisely: it must manage the constitution of dioceses, the appointment of bishops and their formation, it must support pastors in their governance, organize ad limina visits, oversee the unity and proper functioning of particular Churches, and it must even involve the people of God in the selection of candidates. It is, in other words, the beating heart of the Curia. Here, decisions are made about who will lead the world's Catholic communities. And thus, the future shape of the Church is also decided: whether it will have bishops attentive to doctrine or ready to compromise, whether they will be caring fathers with their priests or despotic administrators, whether they will be pastors of prayer or managers of dioceses, whether they will have prophetic courage or a penchant for mediocrity.

An Appointment as a Program of Government

Today's appointment, therefore, is not a bureaucratic detail, but a programmatic act. Leo XIV chose to start from here, and not by chance. Because everything depends on the quality of the bishops: catechesis, liturgy, sacramental life, management of resources, proximity to the poor, defense of the faith. A weak episcopate generates disoriented communities. A strong, just, and rooted episcopate, on the other hand, becomes a sign of hope. In an age in which the Church seems lost, fragmented, sometimes even bent on passing fads, the decision to place a man of the law in charge of appointments appears to be a precise response: one cannot save oneself through improvisation, but through seriousness, competence, and respect for the rules.

p.A.L.

Silere non possum