Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday appointed Filipino De La Salle Brother Armin Luistro a member of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
He is among 19 new members appointed to the dicastery, which is led by Consolata Missionary Sister Simona Brambilla, the first woman to head a major Vatican office.
Other members include Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero of Rabat, Morocco; Cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa of Jerusalem, and Cardinal Jaime Spengler Porto Alegre, Brazil.
According to the apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, the dicastery is tasked with promoting, encouraging and regulating the practice of evangelical counsels, as they are lived out in the approved forms of consecrated life and matters concerning the life and activity of societies of apostolic life throughout the Latin Church.
Vatican statistics show there are nearly 600,000 professed women religious in the Catholic Church. The number of religious-order priests is about 128,500, and religious brothers number close to 50,000.
The dicastery is also charged with approving cases in which a vowed member seeks to leave religious life or is asked to do so by their community. It oversees the establishment of new religious orders, approves constitutions, and manages mergers, suppressions and unions of orders and superiors general.
Luistro currently serves as the superior general of the De La Salle Brothers, also known as the Brothers of the Christian Schools.
Elected to the post in 2022, Luistro is the 28th successor of the congregation’s founder, St. John Baptist de La Salle, and the first Asian to hold the position.
Before becoming superior general, Luistro served as president of De La Salle Philippines, the nationwide network of La Salle schools, and as secretary of the Philippines’ Department of Education.
