San Francisco archbishop among new members of Vatican’s highest court

Pope Leo XIV has appointed San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and Kalamazoo, Michigan, Bishop Edward M. Lohse among seven new members of the Apostolic Signatura, the Catholic Church’s highest court.

Cordileone has led the Archdiocese of San Francisco since 2012. Previously an auxiliary bishop of San Diego and bishop of Oakland, California, he is known for his public defense of contested Catholic teachings, including the Church’s teaching on marriage. In 2025, he was appointed to the advisory board of the U.S. Religious Liberty Commission.

Lohse, the bishop of Kalamazoo and apostolic administrator of Steubenville, Ohio, previously worked at the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy from 2010 to 2015. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

The pope also appointed Spanish Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru, the former secretary of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, where he served for nearly 20 years, from 2007 until June 2026.

Arrieta, a priest of Opus Dei who was ordained in 1977, has also served as coordinator of the commission that reformed the Institute for the Works of Religion, commonly known as the Vatican Bank, and as a consultant to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He holds doctorates in canon law and civil law from the University of Navarra in Spain.

Another Spanish appointee, Father Eduardo Baura de la Peña, is an Opus Dei priest and professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. He also holds doctorates in canon law and civil law.

The three other new members are German Jesuit Father Ulrich Rhode, a professor in the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Bishop Krzysztof Nitkiewicz of Sandomierz, Poland; and Italian Father Gianpaolo Montini, also a professor in the Gregorian’s Faculty of Canon Law.

The Apostolic Signatura serves as the Church’s supreme tribunal and oversees the proper administration of justice throughout the Catholic Church.

Its members, who include cardinals, bishops, and priests, are appointed by the pope for five-year terms. The court is led by its prefect, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who, as cardinal protodeacon, announced the election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025.

Among its responsibilities, the Signatura hears challenges to certain decisions of the Roman Rota, including petitions for nullity and requests for the complete restoration of a case. It also considers appeals in cases concerning the juridical status of persons.

The tribunal judges administrative disputes referred to it by the pope as well as jurisdictional conflicts between Vatican dicasteries and between dicasteries and the Secretariat of State.

It also supervises the proper administration of justice in ecclesiastical tribunals and may take action concerning ministers, advocates, or procurators when necessary.

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