Pope Francis promulgated and published this Saturday the new Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, which reforms the government of the Church and its service in the world, on which he worked for eight years with the Council of Cardinals.
The new 52-page Constitution, which completely changes the organization chart of the Roman Curia, will take effect on June 5 and will repeal and replace Pastor Bonus, promulgated by John Paul II in 1988.
Some important changes reflected in the new Constitution are already effective, such as the creation of the Secretariat of Communication, which brings together different sources of information from the Vatican; the creation of the dicastery (ministry) for the Service of Integral Human Development, which brings together the social issues of the Church; and the Secretariat for the Economy, which will manage all of the Vatican’s finances, including the funds of the Secretariat of State.
The preamble to the Constitution explains that this new document took into account “the missionary conversion of the Church”.
One of the novelties is the creation of the great Department of Evangelization, which will be directly presided over by Pope Francis.
The new Constitution also reflects one of the changes recently implemented by the pontiff in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has been divided into two sections: one disciplinary, which will deal with canonical processes with the intention of accelerating cases of child abuse, and the other doctrinal, which deals with rules about faith and morality.
In addition, the current Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors was included in the Doctrine of the Faith, “whose task is to advise the pontiff and propose the most appropriate initiatives for the protection of minors and vulnerable people”, the text reads.
The members of the commission “are appointed by the Roman Pontiff for five years and are chosen from among clergy, members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and lay people of various nationalities who are distinguished by their proven ability and pastoral experience.”
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