The Holy See has consolidated the governance structure of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) under the authority of its pontifical delegate, Monsignor José Antonio Satué Huerto.
A decree signed in Málaga on July 25 and a document released on August 18 with the profiles of those in charge show that six of the eight people who make up the current leadership structure come from outside the Institute.
The appointments do not correspond to a government elected by the members of the IVE, but to the structure established within the pontifical intervention that the Institute has been undergoing for years.
Satué, current bishop of Málaga, holds all powers of governance, and the collaborators now confirmed exercise their functions under his authority.
Satué retains all powers of governance
The decree Prot. n.º IVE-037/2026 recalls that the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life appointed Satué as pontifical delegate by decree of December 8, 2024, approved in forma specifica by Pope Francis on December 3 of that year.
The mandate entrusted Satué with the direction of the Institute ad nutum Sanctae Sedis and “with all powers of governance,” in accordance with the universal law of the Church and the constitutions of the IVE.
The formula makes clear the scope of the intervention: the pontifical delegate does not perform a merely consultative or accompanying function, but exercises the Institute’s authority of governance by mandate of the Holy See.
Rome’s decision was accompanied by other significant measures, including a three-year ban on accepting new candidates and admitting members to the novitiate.
The Vatican decree also pointed to a “great weakness in the formation process,” linking it to the high number of departures the Institute has suffered since its beginnings.
The Dicastery gave the green light to the appointments
The mandate granted to Satué allows him to choose collaborators of his trust, with the obligation to inform the Dicastery of his decisions.
On May 26, 2026, the delegate informed Rome of his intention to confirm those who had worked with him during the first stage of his mandate and to distribute among them the different responsibilities of governance. On July 14, the Dicastery responded that it “had nothing against” the planned appointments.
The decree of July 25 thus establishes that Father Ervens Darío Mengelle, IVE, will serve as vicar general, while Salesian brother Giampietro Pettenon will assume the role of general treasurer.
Fathers Diógenes Valentín Urquiza, IVE; Giampiero Gambaro, OFM Cap.; and Paolo Crivelli, FFB, will serve as general councilors and will be in charge of Monasteries, Procuratorship, and Formation, respectively.
Passionist Antonio María Munduate Larrea and lawyer and canonist Francisco García Villalobos will continue to collaborate in the functions proper to the General Secretariat by virtue of previous appointments made by the Dicastery.
Only two of the eight belong to the IVE
One of the most significant data points of the structure presented on August 18 is its composition. If the pontifical delegate himself is included, only two of its eight members belong to the Institute of the Incarnate Word: Mengelle and Urquiza.
Satué is a diocesan priest and bishop of Málaga; Pettenon belongs to the Salesians; Crivelli to the Franciscan Fraternity of Bethany; Gambaro is a Capuchin; Munduate is a Passionist; and García Villalobos is a layman.
The majority presence of external persons shows the scope of the tutelage established over the Institute, although many of them did not arrive at the IVE now, but have been linked to its intervention for several years.
A structure that has been working for years
Mengelle has held numerous responsibilities within the IVE. He was general treasurer, member of different provincial councils and of the General Council, and vicar general by appointment of the Dicastery between 2016 and 2019.
Between 2020 and 2025 he worked as assistant to the pontifical commissioner and later began collaborating with Satué.
Urquiza presents a profile especially linked to the origins of the Institute. He entered the nascent IVE in 1984 and was part of its founding group.
After carrying out much of his ministry in Russia, in 2019 he was appointed to collaborate with the Council of the pontifical commissioner and since 2025 he has been working with the delegate.
Among the externals there is also continuity. Pettenon has been working on IVE matters since 2021 and was the legal representative of the Institute’s entity in Italy.
Crivelli has also been collaborating since 2021, while Munduate has been working with the Dicastery on matters related to the IVE since 2019.
The reorganization, therefore, does not imply the arrival of a completely new team, but rather the formalization and distribution of responsibilities among people who, to a large extent, were already participating in the intervention process.
Formation, finances, and legal control
The chosen profiles also allow identification of some of the central areas of the current stage.
Pettenon holds a degree in Economics and Commerce and has extensive experience in economic tasks within the Salesians. Crivelli was master of postulants, vicar general for six years, and superior general for twelve, and is now in charge of Formation.
Gambaro has training in Business Administration and Canon Law, has served as general treasurer and provincial minister of the Capuchins, and is part of the legal-canonical commission of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference. He assumes the area of Procuratorship.
García Villalobos, for his part, holds degrees in Law and Canon Law and has served as secretary general-chancellor of the diocese of Málaga, director of the Office for the Protection of Minors, and head of Regulatory Compliance.
In February of this year he was appointed by the Dicastery as assistant to the pontifical delegate for the IVE, especially in matters of the Secretariat.
The background of the IVE intervention
The current reorganization cannot be separated from the process that led Rome to intervene in the Institute.
In the decree made known in January 2025, the Dicastery pointed to problems in the area of formation and stated that the superiors and members of the IVE had not collaborated sufficiently with the previous pontifical commissioner to clarify the allegations of abuse against its founder, Father Carlos Miguel Buela, who died in 2023 before he could be canonically tried by the Holy See.
Rome then ordered a thorough review of the Institute’s proper law and established restrictions on the admission of new members, while recognizing its “great missionary drive.”
The documents now known do not provide new information on the investigations related to those antecedents or on possible measures concerning victims or complainants.
Their purpose is different: to define who currently governs the IVE and how responsibilities are distributed within the intervention.
The IVE continues under pontifical tutelage
The decree is explicit in stating that all collaborators will exercise their functions “under the authority of the Pontifical Delegate,” within the limits of the mandate received from the Holy See and subject both to the provisions of the Dicastery and to the determinations established by Satué.
The publication of the new structure does not, therefore, imply the end of the intervention or the recovery of ordinary governance by the Institute.
On the contrary, it formalizes the continuity of pontifical tutelage, with Satué concentrating the authority of governance and a predominantly external team in charge of the main areas of the IVE’s functioning.