MANILA, Philippines — Pope Francis has appointed Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle to a major post in the Vatican.

Reported Sunday through the Vatican News, the post assigned to the 62-year-old cardinal by the Pope is a new prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

And with it, the Filipino Cardinal replaced Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who was given a higher post of Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher.

Tagle’s assignment marks the return of an Asian cardinal to the helm of the important department for evangelization and episcopal nominations in mission lands after Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias who served from 2006 to 2011.

“With this choice, announced a few days before the end of his trip to Thailand and Japan, Francis once again shows great attention to the Asian continent,” Vatican News wrote.

Tagle received the Cardinal’s hat way back in November 2012, a year after his appointment as Metropolitan Archbishop of Manila in October 2011.

Tagle, who is popular at home and around the Catholic world, has been mentioned in the past as a potential candidate for the papacy, including in the conclave that elected Francis in 2013. (IAMIGO/CNS)