The Bulletin of the Holy See reported on this January 21, 2026, the appointment of Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., as a member of the Cardinalitial Commission of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the cardinalitial oversight body of the so-called “Vatican bank”. In the official announcement, he is presented with his current position: pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Fernández Artime (Luanco–Gozón, Asturias, 1960) is a Salesian and served for a decade as Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation, first elected in 2014 and confirmed for a second term in 2020. That period positioned him as one of the most visible religious figures in the Church due to his role at the head of one of the most widespread congregations in the world, with a profile marked by youth pastoral care and the educational field.
Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Consecrated Life (since 06.01.2025)
Since January 6, 2025, Fernández Artime is pro-prefect of the dicastery in charge of institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life, a responsibility with direct impact on the governance, accompaniment, and supervision of congregations and religious realities throughout the Church.
Pontifical Legate in Assisi (appointment: 16.07.2025)
To that curial role was added another symbolic and trust-based assignment. In the Bulletin of the Holy See of July 16, 2025, Leo XIV appointed him Pontifical Legate for the Papal Basilicas of Saint Francis and of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Assisi, succeeding in that function Cardinal Agostino Vallini, appointed in 2017.
A designation that expands his scope of action
With today’s appointment to the Cardinalitial Commission of the IOR, the Salesian cardinal adds a field of responsibility different from the one he had been carrying out in consecrated life. From the governance of a large congregation and the supervision of religious institutes, he also moves to an organ linked to the institutional supervision of the IOR, in a sign that, due to the accumulation of assignments, consolidates his weight in the curial framework.