Why the Pope’s secretary has been made a Monsignor

Pope Leo XIV has appointed his longtime collaborator, the Peruvian priest and biblical scholar Father Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, as a Chaplain of His Holiness.

The decision places the Pope’s personal secretary formally within the Papal Household, in accordance with the norms set by Saint Paul VI’s Pontificalis Domus and means he officially now is a Monsignor.

Father Rimaycuna, who followed the then-Bishop Robert Francis Prevost from Chiclayo, the Peruvian capital, to Rome and continued in service when Prevost was elected to the papacy in May 2025, now assumes the lowest of the three monsignorial dignities.

His new status confirms both his proximity to the Holy Father and the trust placed in him for the daily management of the Pope’s private office.

Father Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga has built a quiet but steady reputation as a disciplined scholar and a reliable aide. His academic work in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute placed him within the small circle of Latin American priests pursuing advanced studies in Rome, and it was during this period that he continued his long-standing collaboration with Bishop Robert Francis Prevost.

When Prevost became Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, Father Rimaycuna followed him into the Curia; when Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV in May 2025, he was confirmed as the Holy Father’s personal secretary.

While the title may suggest pastoral functions, it does not actually mean that Father Rimaycuna will now serve as a chaplain in the ordinary sense of hearing confessions or overseeing spiritual programmes. Instead, the designation marks his formal entry into the monsignorial ranks, recognising his place within the Papal Household.

As with all Chaplains of His Holiness, the role is honorific in form but rooted in practical service. It acknowledges a priest who stands close to the Pope’s daily life, assisting in matters of schedule, correspondence and the careful handling of sensitive affairs, along with an elevated title.

As such, the title of “Monsignor” does not describe a separate clerical order, but an honour. It is the Church’s way of distinguishing certain priests whose service, learning or responsibility has drawn the attention of the Holy See.

The word itself – meaning “my lord” – signals courtesy rather than rank. But behind that courtesy is a carefully ordered world that has developed over centuries of reform.

Today there are three tiers of monsignorship: Chaplain of His Holiness, Prelate of Honour, and Apostolic Protonotary. These titles, pruned and clarified by the reforms of Saint Paul VI in 1968, now express a restrained but meaningful grammar of ecclesiastical dignity.

Understanding how these three tiers work requires a brief orientation. The highest, that of Apostolic Protonotary, represents the surviving remnant of the great papal notaries of late antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Their historical role was formidable, drafting papal constitutions, assisting in canonisations and bearing the weight of legal precision within the Curia. Today, the numerary members continue that specialised work, while the supernumerary protonotaries found outside Rome hold a purely honorary dignity. Their dress, the amaranth-coloured choir cassock, signals a closeness to the Holy See preserved through centuries of evolution.

Below them stand the Prelates of Honour, formerly known as Domestic Prelates. This category gathers those whose service or office has traditionally bound them to the papal sphere – specifically Canons of particular cathedral chapters, certain officials of the Roman tribunals or priests whose bishops petition for the title in recognition of distinguished ministry. The dignity is largely ceremonial, though not empty.

The most accessible tier, and the one pertinent to the present moment, is that of Chaplain of His Holiness. This is marked by the simple black cassock with fuchsia piping and sash. Far from being an anachronism, this title was deliberately retained by Paul VI when he re-formed the old Papal Court into the modern Papal Household described in Pontificalis Domus.

A Chaplain of his Holiness belongs to the Familia Pontificia, the body of those who assist the Pope directly in his spiritual and administrative life. Hence the reform to the use of the rank was explicit: titles were to correspond to real service, not antiquarian privilege.

This is why the elevation of the Pope’s personal secretary carries genuine meaning. To make him a Chaplain of his Holiness is to acknowledge that this service is not only confidential but ecclesial, folding him visibly into the Pope’s own household.

It is the modern expression of an ancient idea that those who stand closest to the Pope should do so not by birth or courtly rank but by fidelity, loyalty and competence.

Photo: Pope Leo XIV leaves his aircraft, with Father Rimaycuna following behind him, for an official welcome ceremony at Esenboğa International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, 27 November 2025 (Photo by Serdar Ozsoy/Getty Images)