Pope creates new Vatican office to fight secularization, re-evangelize West

Vatican shuffles top posts

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican has shuffled some of its top positions.

The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Monsignor Rino Fisichella has been tapped to head a new Vatican office to fight secularization and re-evangelize the West. The move is a tacit acknowledgment that attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe need a boost.

Fisichella has been head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican’s top bioethics official.

The Vatican also named Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet as chief to its powerful Congregations for Bishops, which vets bishop appointments around the world. Ouellet, 66, succeeds Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who retires after nearly a decade in the post due to age.