Pope Francis promulgated this Saturday (19) the new Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia and its service to the Church and the world. THE Praedicate evangelium will enter into force on June 5, during the Solemnity of Pentecost.
The document, with 250 items, is the result of a long process of listening, started with the General Congregations that preceded the 2013 Conclave. The new Constitution replaces the Bonus Pastor, of John Paul II, promulgated on June 28, 1988 and which has been in force since March 1, 1989.
Next Monday (21), at 11:30 am, the text will be presented in the Press Room of the Holy See by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, by Archbishop Marco Mellino, secretary of the Council of Cardinals, and by the Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, canonist, professor emeritus at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The document involved the Council of Cardinals, with meetings from October 2013 to last February, and continued under the guidance of the pope, with contributions from churches around the world.
A fundamental part of the text refers to the general principles and reminds us, at the beginning, that every Christian is a missionary disciple. It specifies that all – and therefore lay and lay faithful – can be appointed to government functions in the Roman Curia, by virtue of the vicarious power of the successor of Peter: “Every Christian, by virtue of baptism, is a disciple-missionary, insofar as he who found the love of God in Christ Jesus. This cannot be ignored in the updating of the Curia, whose reform, therefore, must include the involvement of lay people alike in roles of governance and responsibility”.
Among other significant innovations is the unification of the Dicastery for Evangelization, the previous Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization: the two heads of dicastery become pro-prefects, because the prefecture is reserved for the papa. The Constitution says that the Dicastery for Evangelization is presided over directly by the Pontiff. The Dicastery is made up of the government departments of the Catholic Church that make up the Roman Curia.
*With information from the Vatican News Agency
