Pope Francis Appoints Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça as Prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education

Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça as the new prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education in the Vatican, replacing Cardinal Angelo Vincenzo Zani. The Dicastery, which oversees both culture and education, aims to promote Catholic heritage and principles through dialogue with global institutions. De Mendonça, born in Funchal, Madeira in 1965, was ordained a priest in 1990 and holds a licentiate in Biblical Sciences from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He served as chaplain at the Catholic University of Portugal (UCP) in Lisbon, rector of the Pontifical Portuguese College in Rome, and professor of New Testament and Theological Aesthetics at UCP. He was appointed archivist and librarian of the Holy Roman Church in 2018 and made a cardinal in 2019. Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, professor of Ecclesiology at the Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II in Rome, was named secretary of the Dicastery.