Australian bishop to lead Vatican legal department

Pope Leo XIV appointed the Australian Bishop of Broken Bay Wednesday as head of the Vatican department charged with authoritatively interpreting canon law.

The pope named Bishop Anthony Randazzo as the prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts March 25, the feast of the Annunciation. Randazzo succeeds the Italian Archbishop Filippo Iannone, who was appointed as the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in September 2025.

The Dicastery for Legislative Texts deals with sensitive questions about the correct understanding of Church law, and has the power to authoritatively interpret canon law in response to questions from dioceses and religious orders around the world.

The dicastery is also responsible for proposing ways to overcome legal gaps and consults with other Vatican dicasteries to ensure that any new documents are in harmony with canon law. It also reviews and approves decrees issued by bishops’ conferences and Eastern Catholic bishops.

Randazzo is the first Australian to lead a Vatican department since 2017, when Cardinal George Pell took leave from his post as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy to fight abuse charges in his homeland, ultimately clearing his name in 2020. Pell’s term as prefect expired in 2019