Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Anthony Randazzo as prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts on Wednesday. Randazzo, the bishop of Broken Bay, succeeds Archbishop Filippo Iannone, whom Pope Leo XIV named in September to take over his old job at the Vatican office that vets bishop nominations. The Dicastery for Legislative Texts is responsible for writing and interpreting the Catholic Church’s in-house canon law and provides legal advice on other matters, including for the Vatican City State.
Bishop Anthony Randazzo studied canon law at the Jesuit Pontifical Gregorian University and worked for five years in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Leo XIV is a canon lawyer, and Randazzo will remain in Australia for the next three months before moving to Rome.
I was grateful for Leo’s trust.
The Australian Catholic Church has a wretched legacy of clergy abuse and cover-up. As a young bishop working at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bishop Anthony Randazzo was in a position to deal with the fallout of the clergy abuse crisis, including during the period of Australia's Royal Commission investigation. Australia's Royal Commission found 7% of Australian Catholic priests were accused of abuse between 1950-2010, with 4,444 people saying they were victims. The appointment of an Anglophone legal expert familiar with the grave shortcomings of the way the church mishandled the abuse crisis is perhaps telling.
Canon lawyers, victims, and outside experts have faulted the canonical system and the way it has been used as part of the problem. The recent Vatican financial trial involving a cardinal has revealed the limitations of the city state's outdated criminal and procedural codes.