Pope Leo names Archbishop Viola new archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica

Pope Leo XIV appointed Archbishop Vittorio Francesco Viola on Oct. 10 as the new archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica and the pope's vicar for Vatican City.

Viola, a 61-year-old Franciscan from northern Italy, currently serves as the secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

He succeeds Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, also a Franciscan, whom the pope named as the archbishop of the central Italian Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto last week.

The Vatican also announced Oct. 10 that Leo has appointed Spanish Bishop Aurelio García Macías to succeed Viola as the new secretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. García Macías has worked in the dicastery since 2015 and as undersecretary since 2021.

Viola has served in the Roman Curia since 2021. Prior to becoming secretary for the liturgy dicastery, he served as bishop of the northern Italian Diocese of Tortona from 2014 to 2021. He holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute of Sant'Anselmo in Rome. His episcopal motto is "I discover You in Your sacraments."

Born in the city of Biella in the northern Italian region of Piedmont in 1965, Viola entered the Franciscan order after graduating high school and was ordained to the priesthood in 1993 in Assisi, Italy. The Franciscan went on to serve as the custos of the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels and later of the Convent at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Assisi.

As archpriest, the Italian prelate will oversee the daily administration of St. Peter's Basilica and preside over liturgies when the pope is not present. With the appointment, Leo also named Viola the president of the Fabric of St. Peter, the Vatican office responsible for maintaining the basilica complex.

According to Pope Francis' apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium ("Preach the Gospel") on the reform of the Roman Curia, the Fabric of St. Peter's "deals with everything that concerns the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter," which includes "the conservation and decorum of the building, and the internal discipline" of staff, pilgrims and visitors.