Insignia of Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion Conferred on Cardinal Frank Leo
The Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Fra’ John Dunlap, has promoted Cardinal Frank Leo, Archbishop of Toronto, to the dignity and rank of Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion.
After the conferral of the insignia, Cardinal Frank Leo celebrated mass in the chapel of the Magistral Palace in Rome.
The ceremony was attended by the Grand Chancellor, Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, the Receiver of the Common Treasury, Fabrizio Colonna, the Ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Holy See, Antonio Zanardi Landi and the Ambassador of Canada to the Holy See, Joyce Napier.
Cardinal Frank Leo was created cardinal, and assigned the title of Santa Maria della Salute a Primavalle, by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 7 December 2024. He was born in Montreal on 30 June 1971 and ordained a priest of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Montreal on 14 December 1996.
He studied at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome from 2006 to 2008. Entering the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See, he was posted to the Apostolic Nunciature in Australia from 2008 to 2011 and then to the Holy See Study Mission in Hong Kong from 2011 to 2012.
Returning to Montreal in 2012, he was appointed Director and Dogmatic Theory Lecturer at the Grand Séminaire, Director of IFTM’s Department of Canon Law and Vice-president of the Archdiocesan Vocations Service. From 2013 to 2015 he was a member of the Presbyterial Council. From 2015 to 2021 he was Secretary General of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2021 he became Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Montreal. On 16 July 2022 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Tamada and Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal, and was consecrated on 12 September. On 11 February 2023 he was appointed Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto.
