When news suddenly broke late on a Wednesday night the Bishop of Broken Bay Anthony Randazzo had been appointed Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts in Rome, and was now an Archbishop, it drew enthusiastic reactions across the church in Australia and Oceania.
His own passion for the path ahead was contagious as he spoke with The Catholic Weekly by phone the day following the Vatican announcement on 25 March. Despite an underwhelming title, the new archbishop explained the dicastery’s work is central to the church’s mission. As prefect he will oversee, for the whole of the Latin and Eastern Catholic churches, the understanding, interpretation and application of canon law which “must always be a servant of the Gospel”.
“Every law in the church is rooted first in the heart of God. That means it must begin and end with relationship, with the human community on our spiritual journey towards heaven,” he said. “Legislative texts are not ink on paper. It’s actually a way that the pope has an opportunity to express the dynamic mission of the church – how we live our discipleship, and trying to ensure that people are kept safe and strong in their rights and their obligations to live their discipleship.
“So it’s dynamic, it’s quite exciting and I’ve always taken a pastoral approach to the law in the church.”
Archbishop Randazzo, 59, was born in Sydney to Colin Randazzo and Caterina Di Losa, fruit-sellers with their family business in Bankstown. He was baptised in Mater Dei parish in Blakehurst, and in 1967 the family, which also included his three sisters, moved to the Gold Coast. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Brisbane on 29 November 1991 and appointed an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney by Pope Francis in 2016.
A canon lawyer with a degree from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Archbishop Randazzo has served as bishop of the Diocese of Broken Bay since 2019. His diverse roles also include rector of the Holy Spirit Seminary in Queensland, and before that, an official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome from 2004-2009.
Archbishop Randazzo is also apostolic administrator of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, accompanying former Anglicans into full communion with the Catholic Church. He says their journey represents a “springtime” for ecumenism.
His leadership has spanned parishes, schools, seminaries, youth ministries, and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference where he has chaired the Episcopal Panel for Canon Law since 2021. Conference president Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB welcomed the appointment, saying Archbishop Randazzo’s formation and long experience in canon law had been a profound gift to the church. “He understands canon law as a tool to be exercised in the service of the Gospel and the pastoral good of the church,” he said in a statement.
Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher OP said it was a “great joy” to congratulate Archbishop Randazzo. “It is a significant responsibility at an important moment in the life of the church, and one for which he is exceptionally well prepared,” his statement said.
“Archbishop Randazzo has made an outstanding contribution to the church: as a priest, a curial official, a seminary rector, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney, then as Bishop of Broken Bay, as Ordinary of the Anglican Ordinariate, and as president of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania. At every level, he has brought clarity, generosity, and a deep love for the church.
“On a personal level, I am grateful for his wise and considered counsel, and for the fidelity with which he has approached every task. I am confident that he will bring those same gifts to this new role in Rome, serving the church and the Holy Father so faithfully at a time of new leadership and fresh horizons.”
Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, Keith Pitt, said it was “a proud moment for Australia and the Pacific as we remain hopeful for a papal visit to our region in 2028.”
Archbishop Randazzo will remain in Broken Bay for three months as apostolic administrator before moving to Rome. In a statement on social media, he said he was “deeply grateful to Pope Leo for the trust he has placed in me.” It places the archbishop on a relatively short list of Australians ever appointed to a Roman dicastery, including Cardinal George Pell, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, and Cardinal James Knox.
The role will immerse him in the intricacies of canon law and church governance – from clarifying how offences such as spiritual abuse are defined to questions of marriage law, the norms governing lay ministry, and bishops’ responsibilities in disciplinary cases.
But Archbishop Randazzo is clear about the dicastery’s purpose to offer foundational support to other church bodies and the pope. “We don’t make doctrine, and we don’t run tribunals. What we do is interpret the law to serve the mission of the church,” he said.
The bishop’s scheduled visit to Rome in early March for meetings was unexpectedly extended when the US-Israel war on Iran broke out, leaving him stranded enroute in Dubai for days. But he made it to a private audience with Pope Leo XIV in Rome where he said, “the Holy Father invited me to serve in his Petrine ministry through my work as prefect of the dicastery.”
“That conversation was so collaborative, synodal in the most healthy way. He spoke, then listened as he gave me an opportunity to respond; we had a dialogue of hearts and minds,” he told The Catholic Weekly. “I felt the Holy Spirit drawing us deeply together and I came away with a deep sense of confidence and peace in what he was asking me to do.”
He spoke animatedly about bringing the church in Australia and across the Pacific with him to the heart of the Vatican. “One of the things that excites me is the opportunity to be an Australian and part of the church in Australia, present in Rome. That means that we’re not forgotten. We’re an integral part of the universal church.
“What will I take there with me? The people. The experiences of working with them, listening to them, what I’ve learned from them, my discipleship with them, my leadership as a bishop. I won’t be leaving my heart behind. I take the church in Australia with me.”
