Pope Leo XIV Names Two Synod Undersecretaries
Jesuit Fr. Giacomo Costa and Salesian Sr. Elena Massimi will help implement synodal conclusions locally as Cardinal Grech focuses the Secretariat on reception.
On October 30, 2026, Pope Leo XIV appointed Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa and Salesian Sister Elena Massimi as undersecretaries of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.
Under the apostolic constitution Episcopalis Communio (2018), the undersecretaries chiefly assist the secretary general in directing the Secretariat’s work and in preparing and carrying out synodal assemblies.
Successors in a Renewed Phase
They succeed Sister Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary since February 2021 and the first woman to hold voting rights at a Synod of Bishops assembly, and Augustinian Father Luis Marín de San Martín, whom the Pope named in March prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod, thanked the outgoing officials for service rendered in years that saw the Synod pass through significant and demanding stages. He said the new phase will focus on bringing the synodal conclusions into the local churches. Costa, he noted, knows the assembly’s method from within; Massimi brings liturgical and musical expertise.
Profiles of the New Undersecretaries
Father Costa was born in Genoa in 1967, entered the Society of Jesus in 1992, and was ordained in 2002. Trained as a sociologist at the EHESS in Paris, he edited an Italian Catholic journal from 2010 to 2021, chaired the San Fedele Cultural Foundation in Milan from 2007 to 2025, and served as special secretary for the XV Ordinary General Assembly (2018) and the XVI Ordinary General Assembly on synodality (2021–2024). A consultor to the Secretariat, he has been national spiritual assistant of the Italian Christian Workers’ Associations (ACLI) since 2022.
Sister Massimi was born in Rome in 1975 and made her perpetual profession in 2009 with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. She holds a doctorate in sacred theology (pastoral liturgy) from the Santa Giustina Institute in Padua, linked to the Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm. She teaches liturgy and sacramental theology at the Pontifical Salesian University, presides over the Italian Association of Professors and Scholars of Liturgy, and oversees music for the liturgy at the CEI National Liturgical Office. Her appointment strengthens women’s representation in one of the Roman Curia’s most important bodies.
Costa said the appointment allows him to continue, in a new way, a path begun several years ago under the paternal guidance of Pope Francis. Massimi said she wants to work from an attitude of listening and service to the Church.