Pope’s first appointment in Vatican

08 April, 2013 - Pope Francis on Saturday made his first appointment within the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church in the Vatican, nominating the head of Franciscans worldwide as secretary of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. With this appointment, the Pope simultaneously made Spanish Father José Rodríguez Carballo an archbishop. Fr. Carballo was serving as Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, the 119th successor of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of Italy, whose name Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires assumed on becoming Pope on March 13. The Spanish priest was elected Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor on June 5, 2003 and re-elected for another six years on June 4, 2009. Fr. Carballo has been a close friend of Pope Francis. The new post of the Spanish Franciscan had been vacant since Oct 2012 when American Archbishop Joseph Tobin, who was appointed as Archbishop of Indianapolis. Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz is the Prefect of Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Fr. Carballo was born in 1953 in Lodoselo, Spain. He speaks Spanish, Galician, Italian, French, English and Portuguese, and also knows Latin, Biblical Greek and Biblical Hebrew. He has published numerous articles in Journals on Consecrated and Religious Life, on Pastoral Theology, Sacred Scripture, Biblical Theology, and Franciscan spirituality.