Roche could be imminently relieved as Prefect of Divine Worship

The possible departure of Cardinal Arthur Roche from the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments once again places the Church’s liturgical direction at the center of the debate, and with it a vital part of its future in the coming years. The information, advanced by British journalist Damian Thompson, points—citing Vatican sources—to an imminent transfer of Roche to the position of patron of the Sovereign Order of Malta. Without official confirmation, the move is already being interpreted as a possible reconfiguration of one of the Curia’s most sensitive dicasteries. The Profile of Roche: Executor of a Line Roche has not been a transitional prefect. Since his appointment in 2021, after having been secretary of the same dicastery, he became the main executor of the liturgical policy promoted from Rome in recent years. His management has been marked by a strict, even expansive, application of the guidelines emanating from the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes…