The previous apostolic constitution of the Vatican Administration dated 1988 by John Paul II. François had made one of his priority files.
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Pope Francis promulgated on Saturday, March 19, the new apostolic constitution of the Roman Curia to which he has been working since his election on March 13, 2013, and whose publication was long awaited. Entitled Praedicate Evangelium (Advertise the Gospel), she replaces the Pastor Bonus Constitution, published by Jean Paul II in 1988. Renewing the functioning of the Roman administration, this text is in a way the Testament of François on the Government of the Catholic Church, which it will be required to apply from 5 June and in the coming decades. The reform of the Curia was one of the files deemed priority by the Cardinals at the 2013 conclave.
In reality, a portion of the reforms established by the two hundred and fifty articles have already entered into application over the pontificate, but sparsely. Dicasteries (the Curie departments) have been grouped together, other reworked, economic governance has experienced a starting rationalization, a secularism has been named at the head of communication … this time, grouped into a single text of fifty -What pages, the new provisions are clearly ordered around the few guiding principles put forward by François for nine years, and which are thereby reinforced.
The first appears from the title of this document: which prevails is the announcement of the Gospel. The new Constitution “proposes to better harmonize the current exercise of the Curie service with the evangelization path that the Church”. Other dimensions, including doctrine issues, must be at the service of this first finality. Moreover, the congregation for the doctrine of faith, so far considered as the first of the dicasteries, is placed in the same rank that all the others, “all legally equal”. But in the order of the articles, it is the dicastery for the evangelization which comes the first, just after the state secretaries, which coordinates the different departments. In addition, and it is also new, it will be presided over by the Pope himself.
The second central principle for Pope Francis is what the Church calls “synodality”, that is, in a way, the ability to work collectively. This dimension is currently the subject of extensive consultation in the Church, which will find its culmination in 2023. This synodality goes hand in hand with the third principle, that of a certain decentralization in favor of the episcopal conferences and their regional or continental unions. The Argentine Pope has repeated, for years, that the Curie must be “at the service” of the Pope of course, but also to that of the bishops. The new constitution takes this term.
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