Pope Leo confirms Cardinal Marx as coordinator of Council for the Economy, appoints new members

August 12, 2026

Pope Leo XIV confirmed Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany, in his position as coordinator of the Council for the Economy. Cardinal Marx has been the Council’s coordinator since its inception in 2014.

Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, provides that the Council is “competent for supervising the administrative and financial structures and activities of curial institutions and offices and of institutions associated with the Holy See or that relate to it.” Composed of eight bishops and seven lay people, it approves the Holy See’s annual budget and consolidated financial statements. The coordinator convenes and chairs the Council (Articles 205-211).

The Pontiff confirmed Dr. Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, a law professor in Düsseldorf, Germany, as the Council’s deputy coordinator and Msgr. Brian Ferme as the Council’s secretary. Kreuter-Kirchhof was appointed a member of the Council in 2020; Msgr. Ferme has been secretary since its inception.

In addition to confirming Cardinal Marx, Dr. Kreuter-Kirchhof, and Msgr. Ferme, Pope Leo also confirmed three cardinals and three laity as members. The Pontiff appointed eight new members to the Council: four of them cardinals and four of them laity.

The members of the Council, in addition to Cardinal Marx and Dr. Kreuter-Kirchhof, are now

• Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of Québec, Canada (reappointed)
• Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, S.V.D., of Belgrade, Serbia (new appointment)
• Cardinal Roberto Repole of Turin and Susa, Italy (new appointment)
• Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś of Kraków, Poland (new appointment)
• Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of São Paulo, Brazil (reappointed)
• Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.SS.R., of Newark, New Jersey (reappointed)
• Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., of Algiers, Algeria (new appointment)
• Denis Duverne, CEO of AXA (new appointment)
• Leslie Jane Ferrar, trustee of the Archdiocese of Westminster, England (reappointed)
• Princess Gisela of Liechtenstein, CEO of Industrie und Finanzkontor Etablissement (new appointment)
• Alberto Minali, chief executive of REVO Insurance (reappointed)
• Paolo Nusiner, director general of the Directorate for General Affairs of the Dicastery for Communication (new appointment)
• Elena Wettstein Principato, head of sales management for Europe International at UBS Group AG (new appointment)

Members listed in the online Annuario Pontificio who were not reappointed include Cardinal Arborelius Anders, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, Eva Castillo Sanz, Leslie Jane Ferrar, Ruth Maria Kelly, Marija Kolak, and María Concepción Osácar Garaicoechea.

Praedicate Evangelium provides that the eight bishop members “represent the universality of the Church” (Article 206). Nonetheless, there are no bishops from Asia or Oceania on the Council, and Cardinal Vesco—the sole prelate who leads an African see—is French.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Resignations and Appointments (Holy See Press Office, 8/11/26)