VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis named Archbishop Arthur Roche of England, to lead the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, the Vatican said, announcing the appointment on May.
The 71-year-old Archbishop Roche succeeds 75-year-old Robert Cardinal Sarah of Guinea, who led the congregation from 2014 until his February 20 resignation.
The congregation is charged with promoting the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments and fostering their correct celebration, including by overseeing the approval of the translations of liturgical books and texts.
Born in Yorkshire in 1950, the new prefect led the Diocese of Leeds until his appointment as secretary of the congregation in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. While head of the Diocese of Leeds, then-Bishop Roche also served as chairperson of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, which was responsible for the current English translation of the Roman Missal.
After Cardinal Sarah retired, Pope Francis asked Bishop Claudio Maniago of Castellaneta, president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference’s liturgical commission and a member of the congregation, to consult with the office staff and review its procedures. Archbishop Roche explained that the visitation was “more in the nature of the consultations a diocesan bishop would have with his vicar general and others when he is appointing a new parish priest. In such an instance, the idea is to get to know the needs of the parish, the actual situation, as well as having an eye to its future direction.”
The Vatican also announced Italian Bishop Vittorio Francesco Viola of Tortona, Ital, will succeed Archbishop Roche as the congregation’s secretary. The pope also granted him the title of archbishop.
Archbishop Viola, a Franciscan, had led the Diocese of Tortona—located in the northern Italian region of Piedmont—since 2014.
According to the diocesan website, Archbishop Viola also serves on the Italian bishops’ liturgical commission and taught at Rome’s Pontifical Institute of Liturgy. He is also a member of the theology faculty at Rome’s Pontifical Lateran University.
Lastly, Pope Francis named Monsignor Aurelio García Macías, already an official at the congregation, as its undersecretary and named him titular bishop of Rotdan. Born in Pollos, a small town in Spain’s Valladolid province, Bishop-elect Macías has served as a congregation official since 2015.
