This, after Pope Francis added him to the rank of Cardinal-Bishop, the highest rank within the College of Cardinals. Tagle is the first Filipino to be appointed as a cardinal-bishop.
Vatican News reported on Friday, May 1, that the pontiff appointed Tagle in an audience granted to Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, who is the Substitute for General Affairs for the Secretariat of State last April 14. It added that appointing Tagle to the position puts him on the same status as those Cardinals with suburbicarian churches.
The College of Cardinals is divided into three ranks: the cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests, and cardinal-deacons.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila (RCAM) explained that cardinal-bishops “usually hold suburbicarian titles of important churches around Rome,” while cardinal-priests are working in dioceses in various parts of the globe. The RCAM said “most cardinals” are cardinal-priests. Also known as “the Pope’s cabinet,” cardinal-deacons, for its part, are working full-time in the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church.
With his promotion, Tagle is now included among the list of 11 cardinal-bishops assigned in the Vatican. In an interview with DZMM, Fr. Greg Gaston, rector of the Pontificio Collegio Filippino, said that these cardinal-bishops are the ones that the Pope can call “anytime” for a meeting or consultation about the Church or other cardinals.
Prior to becoming one of the top-ranking cardinals, Tagle was appointed by Pope Francis as the new prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in December 2019. He replaced Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who now serves as the Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
Tagle left for Rome in February, after serving for eight years as the Archbishop of Manila.