Vatican City - The pope has tapped an Italian to head the Vatican office in charge of the world's 400,000 Catholic priests.
Monsignor Mauro Piacenza, 66, replaces retiring Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. Piacenza had been Hummes' No. 2.
In another appointment Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI tapped a Guinean familiar with the Vatican's vast real estate holdings and its missionary needs abroad to head the Vatican's charitable giving office, Cor Unum.
Monsignor Robert Sarah, 65, replaces Cardinal Paul Josef Cordes who is retiring. Sarah had been the No. 2 in the Vatican's powerful and wealthy Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, which helps fund the Vatican's missionary efforts abroad.