Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Arthur Roche to lead the Holy See’s department for liturgy, making him the top-ranking English priest in the Curia. His appointment represents an overhaul of the office which oversees the practice of worship across the global Church.
The former Bishop of Leeds is to be the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, a role he takes up after spending almost a decade as secretary, the number two official, at the congregation.
Along with Archbishop Roche, the Pope announced a revamped leadership team of trained liturgists at the congregation, which is tasked with furthering the implementation of the renewal of the liturgy as set out the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council.
Francis has chosen Bishop Vittorio Viola, 55, a Franciscan friar and liturgy specialist as secretary of the congregation, and Msgr Aurelio García Macías, a Spanish priest-official at the department, to be under-secretary. Bishop Viola has taught liturgy at the Benedictine-run Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, and Msgr Garcia, who will soon be ordained a bishop, has a doctorate in liturgy from the same institute.
Archbishop Roche’s appointment makes him the highest-ranking English priest in the Roman Curia and is likely to see him named a cardinal in any forthcoming consistory. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s foreign minister, is the other high-ranking English priest in the Vatican, however, Arch-bishop Roche will be the only one heading a dicastery.