New bishops come from the Vatican's doctrinal office

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Two top officials within the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will be ordained bishops.

The Vatican announced on July 29 that Pope Francis has decided Msgr. John Kennedy, 56, the secretary of the dicastery’s disciplinary section, will be an archbishop and have the “titular see” of Ossero, an ancient diocese in Croatia that ceased functioning in the 19th century.

Msgr. Philippe Curbelié, undersecretary of the dicastery, will be a bishop and have the “titular see” of Utica. The Vatican did not provide a date for their episcopal ordinations.

Msgr. John Kennedy, head of the disciplinary section at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, gives a talk at the Catholic Media Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., June 19, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Background on new episcopal appointments

Archbishop-elect Kennedy was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Dublin, Ireland, in 1993. He started working as an official at the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2003. In 2022 Pope Francis named him secretary of the dicastery and head of the disciplinary section, which handles abuse cases.

Bishop-elect Curbelié was born in 1968 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, and ordained a priest of the Diocese of Toulouse in 1995. He was dean of the faculty of theology at the Institut Catholique de Toulouse and professor of dogmatic theology before he started working at the then-Congregation for Catholic Education in 2012.

Pope Francis appointed him undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2022.