Pope Leo XIV has appointed a new group of members to the Council for the Economy this Tuesday and has confirmed Cardinal Reinhard Marx as coordinator of the body, a position the Archbishop of Munich and Freising has held uninterruptedly since 2015, when he was appointed by Francis.
Among the new members are Cardinals Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź; Ladislav Nemet, Archbishop of Belgrade; the Dominican Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers; and Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin.
Marx, eleven years at the head of Vatican finances
Marx’s reappointment is the most politically significant aspect of the announcement. The German cardinal, who will turn 73 in September, has coordinated the Council for the Economy since its establishment and has weathered all the storms of the previous pontificate: from his high-profile offer to resign from the see of Munich in 2021—rejected by Francis—following the handling of abuse cases in his archdiocese, to his role as one of the main supporters of the German Synodal Way.
Marx has even openly challenged Rome on the issue of blessings for same-sex couples. Last April, he implemented in his archdiocese the guidelines “A Blessing Strengthens Love,” which authorize ritual blessings for same-sex couples and divorced-and-remarried persons, despite the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith having already rejected the German project in writing. Leo XIV’s response was swift: “The Holy See does not agree with the formalized blessing of couples,” the Pontiff stated on the return flight from his trip to Africa. Far from backing down, Marx denounced a “coordinated campaign” against the German Synod and maintained the application of the guidelines, which even earned him a critical letter from 26 priests in his own archdiocese, who threaten to appeal to the Holy See.
Read also: Leo XIV responds to Marx: “The Holy See does not agree with the blessing of same-sex couples”
None of this has had consequences: barely two weeks after receiving Marx in audience following the letter from the 26 priests, the Pope confirms him at the head of the body that oversees the finances of the Holy See. The reappointment makes it clear that those disagreements appear to have been merely for show.
The Council for the Economy was established by Francis in 2014 through the motu proprio Fidelis dispensator et prudens with the mission of supervising the administrative and financial structures and activities of the dicasteries of the Curia and institutions linked to the Holy See, and of exercising oversight over the Secretariat for the Economy. Its mixed composition includes cardinals and bishops alongside lay experts, among them several women incorporated by Francis in 2020.
Who the new members are
Grzegorz Ryś (Kraków, 1964), Archbishop of Łódź and cardinal since the consistory of September 2023, is considered the most “progressive” face of the Polish episcopate, with a markedly different profile from most of his brother bishops in his country.
Ladislav Nemet (1956), a Hungarian-Serbian Verbite, Archbishop of Belgrade, received the red hat in the consistory of December 2024, in line with Francis’s policy of elevating peripheral sees to the cardinalate.
Jean-Paul Vesco (Lyon, 1962), a French Dominican and Archbishop of Algiers, also created cardinal in December 2024, has publicly supported communion for divorced-and-remarried persons and is one of the voices most aligned with the agenda of the previous pontificate.
Roberto Repole (Turin, 1967), a theologian and former president of the Italian Theological Association, Archbishop of Turin and Susa, likewise a cardinal since December 2024, belongs to the generation of theologians promoted by Francis in his final years.
Continuity, not rupture
With these appointments, Leo XIV sends an unequivocal signal of continuity with the economic-curial design inherited from Francis: the four new members come from the last consistories of the previous pontificate, and the coordinator remains the same after more than a decade. The consolidation of the old Bergoglian guard comes, moreover, at a particularly delicate moment for Vatican finances, marked by the Curia’s structural deficit and the pension fund crisis.
Marx’s continued leadership of the Council contrasts, finally, with the official discourse on rotation and term limits in the bodies of the Roman Curia.
Read also the latest controversies surrounding Cardinal Marx:
- A call to account? Leo XIV receives Marx and Fernández after the letter from 26 German priests
- Marx in audience with the Pope after Rome’s rejection of blessings for irregular and same-sex couples
- Marx denounces a “coordinated campaign” against the German Synod following Leo XIV’s warning against formal blessings for same-sex couples