Leo XIV chooses Italian priest as 2nd private secretary

“Pope Leo XIV has called Father Marco Billeri, a priest of our church in San Miniato, to leave our diocese to serve as second private secretary,” Bishop Giovanni Paccosi announced on Saturday to the residents of his Diocese of San Miniato.

In the statement, the bishop recounts that Pope Leo XIV called him on Wednesday to ask about the priest's availability. “I replied spontaneously: ‘Thank you, Most Holy Father,’” said Bishop Giovanni Paccosi. “It’s a great gift for our Diocese: the thought that a priest who is one of its sons can support so closely the mission of Peter is unimaginable.”

Born on January 9, 1984, in the small town of Pontedera, near Pisa, Marco Billeri was ordained a priest in 2016 for the diocese of San Miniato. He then continued his studies in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in canon law.

Father Billeri was previously appointed judge of the Ecclesiastical Court of Tuscany and defender of the bond" for annulment cases at the diocesan courts of San Miniato and Volterra. He was also episcopal master of ceremonies and secretary of the presbyteral council. At the same time, the young priest was the parochial vicar of a parish in Miniato.

The newly-named secretary will now assist the Pope in his daily duties. He joins Father Edgard Iván Rimaycuna Inga, the Pope's first private secretary. This 36-year-old Peruvian priest is from the Diocese of Chiclayo, which Robert Francis Prevost led from 2015 to 2023. He worked with his bishop until 2017, when he moved to Rome to continue his studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

In 2023, when Bishop Prevost became prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, he called the young priest to his side. The first meeting between the two men dates back to 2006, according to Famiglia Christiana magazine. 

The role and importance of the popes' private secretaries vary depending on the pontiff. Pope Francis made sure to change his secretaries regularly, no doubt to prevent them from becoming too exposed or too influential. Benedict XVI kept Monsignor Georg Gänswein as his first secretary throughout his pontificate. Similarly, John Paul II chose Stanislaw Dziwisz to accompany him from 1978 to 2005.