Pope shifts some duties between offices of Roman Curia

January 25, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has released two documents shifting the responsibilities within the Roman Curia: assigning responsibility for seminaries to the Congregation for Clergy, and responsibility for catechesis to the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization.

With one motu proprio, Ministrorum Institutio, the Pope moves the oversight of seminaries from the Congregation for Catholic Education to the Congregation for Clergy. In the motu proprio he observes that both Vatican II and the Code of Canon Law teach that seminaries “fall under the sphere of formation of clerics,” and thus logically belong within the domain of the clergy.

With the second motu proprio, Fides per Doctrinam, the Pope shifts responsibility for catechesis from the Congregation for Clergy to the Pontifical Council for New Evangelization. He explains that a proper understanding of the faith “always requires that its content be expressed in a new language,” and the new Pontifical Council was created to encourage a vigorous new presentation of the faith.

Pope Benedict notes in Fides per Doctrinam that since Vatican II the Church has taken different approaches to teaching the faith, which have “not been without mistakes, even serious ones, both in method and in content.” The proper remedy for those problems, he writes, is to ensure that the faith is presented accurately, linking the process of evangelization closely to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Responsibility for Seminaries Moved to Congregation for Clergy (VIS)
• Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation Made Responsible for Catechesis (VIS)