Australian bishop named to top Vatican legal post

Pope Leo XIV has appointed Bishop Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia, as prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, granting him the personal title of archbishop, the Vatican announced Wednesday.

With the appointment, Randazzo will become the first Australian to head a dicastery of the Roman Curia since Cardinal George Pell, who served as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy until his retirement in 2019.

Randazzo, 59, was born in Sydney on Oct. 7, 1966, to parents originally from the island of Lipari in Italy. He was ordained a priest in 1991 after studies in Brisbane and later earned a degree in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He has held a number of roles in Australia and at the Vatican, including service as an official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2004 to 2008. He later served as rector of Holy Spirit Seminary in Brisbane and as auxiliary bishop of Sydney before being appointed bishop of Broken Bay in 2019.

Randazzo has also been a member of the permanent committee of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference and chaired its canonical affairs panel.

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, welcomed the appointment, saying Randazzo’s “formation and long experience in canon law have been a precious gift to the Church.”

“His expertise and leadership in canonical matters have been invaluable to the work of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference,” Costelloe added.

In another appointment, Monsignor Renzo Pegoraro, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, was named titular bishop of Gabi and granted the personal title of archbishop.

The pope also named Major Archbishop Claudiu-Lucian Pop of Făgăraș and Alba Iulia of the Romanians as a member of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. Pop, born in 1972 in Pişcolt, Romania, has served in various pastoral and academic roles, including studies in Rome and leadership positions within the Romanian Greek Catholic Church.

Additionally, the Vatican announced new members of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology: Alfonsina Russo, a senior official in Italy’s Ministry of Culture, and professors Lucrezia Spera and Francesca Romana Stasolla, both specialists in Christian and medieval archaeology at Roman universities.

This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.