Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal Agostino Vallini as Vicar of Rome replacing Cardibal Camillo Ruini who is retiring.
Vallini, 68, is an expert in canon law and currently head of a Vatican tribunal.
His predecessor Ruini, 78, was papal vicar for 17 years and became one of the Catholic Church's best-known faces - also because he was until recently head of the Italian bishops' conference.
The Rome vicar fills in for the pope on certain occasions and has direct responsibility over Catholic churches and universities in the city.
Valliani, the son of a Carabinieri who was deported by the Germans during the Second World War, was picked , among other things, for his outstanding work and ''humanity'' as Archbishop of Naples in the 1990s, the Vatican said.
The pope thanked Ruini, who had led mounting battles in defence of Catholic values, for his constant commitment to solving the problems of society.
Ruini told reporters that being the pope's closest aide in the Rome diocese was ''certainly a great responsibility but above all a gift and a joy, a constant source of spiritual enrichment''.
