Roman Curia

Roman Curia, the group of various Vatican bureaus of the Holy See that assist the pope in the day-to-day exercise of his primatial jurisdiction over the Roman Catholic Church. Essentially, it is the Vatican’s central administrative body, consisting of dicasteries (or departments), pontifical commissions, and councils with specific functions and responsibilities relating to church matters.

Form and reform of the Curia

The result of a long evolution from the early centuries of Christianity, the Roman Curia was given its modern form by Pope Sixtus V late in the 16th century, although subsequent popes made significant reforms of its structure and function.

The work of the Roman Curia has traditionally been associated with the members of the Sacred College of Cardinals, acting either as a body or individually as administrators in the various bureaus. In the early 20th century a reorganization ordered by Pope Pius X was incorporated into the Code of Canon Law (promulgated 1917). Further steps toward reorganization were begun by Pope Paul VI in the 1960s with the goals of modernizing procedures and internationalizing curial staff; these reforms were reflected in the second Code of Canon Law (1983). In 1988 Pope John Paul II again reformed the structure and organization of responsibilities within the Roman Curia, issuing an apostolic constitution, Pastor bonus (“The Good Shepherd”), for its regulation. This was replaced in 2022 by a new apostolic constitution, Praedicate evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”), issued by Pope Francis.

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Roman Catholicism: The Roman Curia and the College of Cardinals

Structure and organization

Responsibility for the coordination of curial activities belongs to the cardinal who, as secretary of state, directs both the Secretariat of State (or Papal Secretariat) and the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church (the latter previously known as the Sacred Congregation for the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs). In 1988 the council was divided into two sections: the Section for General Affairs and the Section for Relations with States. A third section was added in 2017, the Section for Diplomatic Staff of the Holy See. All three are overseen by the Secretariat of State, with each section headed by an archbishop.

The various sacred congregations of the Roman Curia are concerned with administrative matters. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) is responsible for safeguarding the doctrine on faith and morals. Though a successor of the notorious Roman Inquisition and, more recently, of the Holy Office, this department is now primarily intended to make positive efforts to promote theological orthodoxy and to protect the rights of those accused of failure in this regard. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Forbidden Books), once a responsibility of this congregation, is no longer in effect. In 2014 Pope Francis established the Secretariat for the Economy, which is distinct from the Secretariat of State and has authority over all economic activities of the Holy See and Vatican City.

Pope Francis also established several new dicasteries of the Roman Curia. The Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, for the pastoral care of the lay faithful and of the family, and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, for marginalized peoples including migrants and victims of armed conflict, were both formed in 2016. Originally the Secretariat for Communication, the Dicastery for Communication was created in 2018 with authority over all forms of communication, including Vatican television, radio, Internet, and print publications.

The 2022 constitution did away with the previous distinctions between “congregations” and “pontifical councils,” referring to all of them simply as “dicasteries.” Francis also established that “any member of the faithful can preside over a dicastery,” whereas previously only cardinals or archbishops were appointed. This allowed for women to be appointed as heads of dicasteries. He also set term limits for such roles at five years, to be renewable only once.

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Other dicasteries of the Roman Curia include:

• Dicastery for the Eastern Churches
• Dicastery for Bishops (formerly the Sacred Congregation of the Consistorial)
• Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (formerly the Congregation of Rites)
• Dicastery for the Causes of Saints (concerned with procedures for beatification and canonization and with the preservation of relics, once a responsibility of the Congregation of Rites)
• Dicastery for the Clergy (formerly the Sacred Congregation of the Council)
• Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (formerly the Congregation of Religious and Secular Institutes)
• Dicastery for Culture and Education (formerly the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities)
• Dicastery for Evangelization (formerly the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples or the Propagation of the Faith)
• Dicastery for the Service of Charity
• Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (which includes the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews)
• Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue (which includes the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims)
• Dicastery for Legislative Texts (concerned with canon law of the Roman and Eastern churches)

The judicial branch of the Roman Curia consists of three tribunals: the Apostolic Signatura (the highest judicial body), the Sacred Roman Rota (for judging ecclesiastical cases appealed to the Vatican, especially those concerning the nullity of marriage), and the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary (for various matters of conscience).

In addition there are various offices and several permanent commissions, including the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was established in 2014 by Pope Francis in response to the clergy abuse crisis.

Women in the Roman Curia

The appointment of women to high offices in the Roman Curia began during the reign of Pope Paul VI, who in 1966 appointed Australian theologian Rosemary Goldie the undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. In 2021 Pope Francis appointed Italian economist Alessandra Smerilli, a Salesian nun, secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. She was the highest-ranking woman in the Curia until 2025, when Francis chose Simona Brambilla, an Italian Consolata Missionary nun, to serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. (Significantly, Francis chose a man, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, to serve in the number-two role, or pro-prefect, of that dicastery.) The next year Smerilli was promoted to prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

The first laywoman to be appointed prefect of a Vatican dicastery was Mexican-born broadcasting executive Maria Montserrat Alvarado, the president and chief operating officer of EWTN News, an American Catholic media outlet. In 2026 Alvarado was chosen by Pope Leo XIV to lead the Dicastery for Communication.