Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments

Leadership

About Arthur Roche

Arthur Roche was born on 6 March 1950 in Batley Carr, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He attended St. Joseph's Primary School, St. John Fisher High School, and studied theology at St. Alban's College in Valladolid, Spain (1969–1975), earning a degree from the Comillas Pontifical University. He was ordained to the priesthood on 19 July 1975 by Bishop Gordon Wheeler. His early ministry included work at Holy Rood Church in Barnsley, service as private secretary to the Bishop of Leeds, and vice-chancellor of the diocese. From 1991 he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University earning a Licentiate in Theology, and then served as spiritual director at the Venerable English College in Rome. Appointed General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales in 1996, he was made Coadjutor Bishop of Leeds in 2002 and succeeded as Bishop of Leeds in 2004. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2012, simultaneously raising him to the rank of archbishop. Pope Francis named him Prefect of the Dicastery in May 2021—making him the highest-ranking English cleric in the Vatican at the time—and created him a Cardinal-Deacon of San Saba on 27 August 2022. As Prefect he has been closely associated with the implementation of the 2021 apostolic letter Traditionis Custodes restricting the Traditional Latin Mass.

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About

Promotes the sacred liturgy according to the renewal of the Second Vatican Council. Regulates the sacred liturgy including the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite. Oversees translation and adaptation of liturgical books.

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