VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV is expected to appoint Archbishop Petar Rajič as new Prefect of the Papal Household while transferring Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra from the Secretariat of State to the Apostolic Nunciature in Italy.

According to a post published by Italian journalist Francesco Capozza, Pope Leo XIV has decided that Rajič, currently Apostolic Nuncio to Italy and San Marino, will become the new Prefect of the Papal Household, with the official announcement expected shortly.

In connection with this change, Peña Parra, the current Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State, will replace Rajič as apostolic nuncio to Italy. The Italian Republic has reportedly granted its diplomatic agreement to the appointment in the last hours.

READ: Who is Archbishop Peña Parra? The controversial rise of the Vatican’s pick to be Italy’s Nuncio

The appointment would move Peña Parra away from the position he has held since 2018 as Substitute for General Affairs, one of the most influential roles within the Roman Curia. The Substitute oversees the internal coordination of the Secretariat of State and manages a wide range of administrative and diplomatic matters on behalf of the Pope.

The transfer would place Peña Parra at the Apostolic Nunciature to Italy, located at Villa Giorgina in Rome. The role is traditionally regarded as one of the most significant diplomatic assignments of the Holy See, because the nuncio serves as the papal representative to the Italian Republic while remaining in close proximity to the Vatican.

Despite the confirmation of Peña Parra’s new assignment, one major question remains unresolved, that is, the identity of the future Substitute for General Affairs. As of now, no successor has been publicly indicated. The selection of the new occupant will likely determine the direction of the Secretariat of State in the coming years.

A second issue concerns the circumstances under which Peña Parra accepted the transfer to the Italian nunciature. According to sources, during the past weeks, Peña Parra reportedly declined two reassignment options before accepting a third possibility that allowed him to remain in Rome. Under Vatican practice, a prelate may refuse only two proposals. Italian journalist Nico Spuntoni reported that rejecting more than three is not permitted.

If this account is accurate, the choice of the Italian nunciature would represent the final option offered to the Venezuelan archbishop after he refused earlier proposals that would have sent him outside the city. By remaining in Rome, Peña Parra would continue to operate near the Vatican and within the same ecclesiastical environment in which he has worked for years.

Analysts interpret the Pope’s intention as an attempt to reform the Secretariat of State by removing Peña Parra from the operational center where the substitute traditionally concentrates enormous practical power. Yet the idea of relocating him to Villa Giorgina appears contradictory to that goal. Although technically outside the secretariat, the residence is close enough – geographically and functionally – to allow him to remain deeply embedded in Vatican dynamics.

From there, he would still be able to monitor, influence, and shape the daily flow of information and decisions, preserving much of the informal authority that the reform was meant to dilute. The move therefore risks looking like a displacement in form rather than in substance, leaving intact the very gravitational center of power that the Pope ostensibly seeks to rebalance.

Spuntoni has also noted that the Italian nunciature has historically been associated with future elevations to the College of Cardinals.

READ: Archbishop Viganò urges Italy to reject scandal-ridden Apostolic Nuncio designate

Edgar Peña Parra was ordained a bishop on February 5, 2011. On February 21, 2015, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic nuncio to Mozambique. Three years later, on August 15, 2018, Francis named him Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State. Peña Parra formally took possession of the office on October 15, 2018.

His career has been the subject of controversy. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has stated that during his own service, beginning in 2002 as delegate for pontifical representations, he reported to superiors in the Secretariat of State accusations involving Peña Parra. According to Viganò, these allegations included the abuse of two minor seminarians as well as the involvement in violent deaths of two homosexual men in Venezuela.

Viganò wrote that the accusations regarding the seminarians were later confirmed through inquiries conducted by Father Enrique Perez, then rector of the Major Seminary of Maracaibo, Venezuela, and by a lay committee that submitted documentation to the Secretariat of State. He further stated that his reports “were ignored” and that Peña Parra was subsequently ordained bishop in 2011 and later appointed archbishop and apostolic nuncio while Cardinal Pietro Parolin was serving as nuncio in Venezuela.