Pope Leo XIV has appointed this Friday, October 30, two new undersecretaries of the General Secretariat of the Synod: Jesuit Giacomo Costa, one of the main leaders of the synodal process promoted by Francis, and Salesian religious Elena Massimi, a liturgy specialist who in 2022 publicly praised Traditionis Custodes, the motu proprio with which the previous Pontiff restricted the celebration of the traditional Mass.
The appointments announced by the Holy See Press Office place both religious as direct collaborators of Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod, in a phase dedicated to implementing the conclusions of the 2021-2024 synodal process.
According to the General Secretariat of the Synod itself, the appointments will last five years. Costa replaces Spanish Augustinian Luis Marín de San Martín, appointed in March as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, while Massimi succeeds French religious Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary since February 2021.
The chosen profiles show continuity with the process developed during Francis’s pontificate. Costa participated directly in its organization and Massimi has developed her academic career in the field of liturgical reform following the Second Vatican Council.
Elena Massimi praised Traditionis Custodes as «the safe path to follow»
The most significant background of Elena Massimi’s profile dates back to September 1, 2022, when she spoke before Francis during an audience granted to the Italian Association of Professors and Scholars of Liturgy, of which she had just been elected president.
According to an official publication of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the congregation to which she belongs, the religious thanked the Pontiff for his main decisions regarding liturgy.
Among them she mentioned Magnum Principium, on translations of liturgical texts; Desiderio Desideravi, dedicated to liturgical formation; and Traditionis Custodes, which, she stated, indicated «the safe path to follow.»
The statement is especially relevant because Traditionis Custodes, promulgated in July 2021, considerably restricted the celebration of Holy Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal and modified the framework of freedom established by Benedict XVI through Summorum Pontificum.
The restrictions affected numerous communities of faithful linked to the traditional liturgy, whose situation continues to be one of the pending issues during Leo XIV’s pontificate.
Massimi thus publicly expressed her support for one of the most controversial liturgical decisions of Francis’s pontificate.
The 2022 audience was also marked by the then Pontiff’s criticisms of traditionalism. In his official speech to liturgy professors, Francis distinguished between tradition and what he called «indietrismo,» an attitude of regression that he considered contrary to the true tradition of the Church.
A liturgist linked to the implementation of post-conciliar reform
Elena Massimi was born in Rome on June 16, 1975, and belongs to the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian congregation in which she made her perpetual profession in October 2009.
She holds a doctorate in Sacred Theology, with a liturgical-pastoral specialization, from the Santa Justina Institute of Pastoral Liturgy in Padua, linked to the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm.
According to her academic profile at the Pontifical Salesian University, she is a professor of Liturgy and Sacramental Theology, president of the Italian Association of Professors and Scholars of Liturgy, and head of the music section for liturgy at the National Liturgical Office of the Italian Episcopal Conference.
She has also participated in the musical work of the new Italian edition of the Roman Missal and has developed extensive editorial and academic activity.
Her publication curriculum includes studies on post-conciliar liturgical reform, the ars celebrandi, Gregorian chant, women’s participation in liturgical life, and instituted ministries.
Among her works is an article published in 2023 on the different interpretations that continue to arise from the liturgical reform following Vatican II, as well as another dedicated to the situation of altar girls and a 2024 study on the history of deaconesses.
Her incorporation into the General Secretariat of the Synod introduces into the leadership of the organization a specialist whose career is closely linked to the study and implementation of post-conciliar liturgical reform.
Giacomo Costa, one of the main organizers of Francis’s Synod
The other appointment falls to Jesuit Giacomo Costa, born in Genoa on September 12, 1967.
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1992 and was ordained a priest in June 2002. He studied Political and Moral Sociology at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences in Paris.
Between 2007 and 2025 he presided over the San Fedele Cultural Foundation in Milan and, from 2010 to 2021, directed the journal Aggiornamenti Sociali, linked to the Society of Jesus.
However, his most relevant trajectory for the new position is his participation in the synods held during Francis’s pontificate.
Costa was special secretary of the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, dedicated to young people in 2018, and held the same responsibility during the XVI Ordinary General Assembly, corresponding to the Synod on Synodality developed between 2021 and 2024.
In this latter phase he participated in the preparation of documents, the presentation of synodal work, and the organization of assembly sessions.
His appointment therefore means the incorporation into the permanent leadership of the General Secretariat of a figure who had already played a prominent role in the development of the synodal process.
Costa defended greater participation of women in Church governance
During the preparatory work of the Synod on Synodality, Costa defended the need to review the forms of participation of the faithful in the life and governance of the Church.
In October 2022, during the presentation of the working document for the continental stage, the Jesuit maintained that synodality should not be understood as a simple distribution of functions and powers.
However, he also raised the importance of studying the place of women in decision-making processes and in ecclesial governance structures.
In that intervention he pointed out that the Church needed adequate structures to develop communion, participation, and mission, including corresponding innovations in canon law.
The question of women’s role reappeared during the synodal assembly of October 2024, especially in the debate on the female diaconate.
Asked then about this possibility, Costa explained that the time had not yet come to make a decision, although he defended that its study should continue.
«Regarding the female diaconate, Prefect Fernández has spoken clearly: it is not yet time to make a decision, but it is good that the question be deepened,» he stated during an appearance before journalists.
The Jesuit added that it was necessary to continue studying the forms of female leadership within the Church.
These statements show his involvement in some of the most debated issues during the Synod, particularly those related to women’s participation in ecclesial responsibilities.
Grech entrusts the new undersecretaries with implementing the synodal conclusions
The General Secretariat of the Synod has also released the first statements from the new leaders and Cardinal Mario Grech.
The cardinal thanked the work carried out by Luis Marín de San Martín and Nathalie Becquart and explained that the new phase will focus on transferring the conclusions of the synodal process to the life of local Churches.
Grech highlighted that Costa knows the assembly’s working method from within, while Massimi brings her experience in liturgy and music.
According to his explanation, both must accompany the moment when the convergences reached during the Synod become concrete practices both in local Churches and in the Roman Curia.
For his part, Costa thanked Leo XIV for his trust and expressly recalled that his participation in the synodal path began under Francis’s direction.
«This appointment allows me to continue, in a new way, a path begun some years ago under the paternal guidance of Pope Francis,» he stated.
Massimi also thanked her appointment and expressed her desire to work alongside Grech and Costa from an attitude of listening and service to the Church.
Leo XIV keeps at the head of the Synod collaborators linked to Francis’s pontificate
The appointments occur during the implementation phase of the Synod on Synodality, whose assembly concluded in October 2024.
The General Secretariat, presided over by Cardinal Mario Grech, is entrusted with the task of accompanying the reception of synodal conclusions in particular Churches and coordinating the work corresponding to the organization.
Costa’s appointment maintains in a position of responsibility one of the main organizers of the process promoted by Francis. Massimi’s arrival also incorporates a liturgist who publicly supported Traditionis Custodes, the document that restricted the celebration of the traditional Mass.
Both backgrounds place the new undersecretaries in continuity with two especially significant areas of the previous pontificate: synodality and the implementation of post-conciliar liturgical reform.
Leo XIV has now entrusted both religious with the task of collaborating with Grech during the next five years, in a phase in which they must put into practice the conclusions of the synodal process initiated by his predecessor.