Pope Leo XIV taps veteran canon lawyer Archbishop Redaelli for key Vatican post

Pope Leo XIV’s appointment earlier this month of Archbishop Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli as secretary of the Dicastery for the Clergy places a seasoned canon lawyer and administrator as the No. 2 in a curial office that directly shapes priestly discipline, pastoral ministry, and formation.

The choice suggests an emphasis on procedural clarity, canonical competence, and experienced leadership in an area where decisions often involve sensitive, high-stakes situations. Redaelli’s track record also points to a governing temperament that favors structured pastoral discernment rather than reactive, polarizing moves — an approach that fits the dicastery’s day-to-day reality and one illustrated by his handling of a controversial case during his tenure as archbishop of Gorizia.

The choice of Redaelli, a canon lawyer, is the latest indication that Pope Leo XIV wants canon law at the center of his governing team, consistent with the appointments of Monsignor Filippo Iannone to lead the Dicastery for Bishops and of Don Marco Billeri as the pope’s second personal secretary. Leo, himself trained as a canon lawyer, reportedly emphasized canon law in the general congregations preceding the conclave that elected him last May.

Carlo Roberto Maria Redaelli was born in Milan on June 23, 1956, and was ordained a priest in 1980. In 1988 he earned a degree in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University.

His pastoral and administrative service unfolded in the Archdiocese of Milan. He received priestly ordination from the then-archbishop — and future cardinal — Carlo Maria Martini, whom Redaelli later called “a great master of discernment” and who was widely seen as a hero to progressive Catholics in Italy and beyond.

During his years in Milan, Redaelli served in the archdiocese’s legal office; was president of the Committee for Ecclesiastical Entities and Goods of the Italian Episcopal Conference; sat on the board of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano; and in 2004 was appointed vicar general of the Archdiocese of Milan by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Martini’s successor. John Paul II chose him titular bishop of Lambesis and appointed him auxiliary bishop of Milan on April 8, 2004. Until 2012, Redaelli remained vicar general of Milan, confirmed in the role also by Cardinal Angelo Scola, Tettamanzi’s successor.

On June 28, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI promoted him to metropolitan archbishop of Gorizia. In the diocese in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Redaelli encountered — in 2017 — the case of a scout leader who had entered into a civil union with his same-sex partner. Redaelli intervened through a letter to the presbyteral council of Gorizia, proposing not an outright condemnation but a path of common discernment on how to address new and complex questions for the Church, urging everyone to engage with “respect, attention, and pastoral discernment.”

He now moves to the Vatican to serve at the Dicastery for the Clergy, a key body in the Church’s structure. It deals with matters concerning diocesan priests and deacons — their persons, their pastoral ministry, and what they need for that ministry to be carried out fruitfully — offering bishops appropriate assistance. It also expresses and implements the Apostolic See’s concern for the formation of candidates for holy orders.

Redaelli will turn 70 next June 23. Compared with the recent past, Leo XIV seems to be seeking — alongside canon-law specialists — men with substantial experience: for example, Redaelli’s predecessor, Archbishop Ferrada Moreira, had been appointed by Pope Francis at 52.