"Praedicate Evangelium" and Reforms in the Catholic Church

On 19 March 2022, Pope Francis, published the Praedicate Evangelium ("Preach the Gospel"), a constitution that details reforms in the Catholic Church.  These reforms officially took effect on 5 June 2022.  It redefines and reforms how the Roman Curia (the administrative institutions of the Vatican) operates.  Many reforms have been discussed and planned in the years since Pope Francis began his term in 2013, so this publication was highly anticipated.  The full text in English of the Praedicate Evangelium can be on the Vatican web site here.

The document is a kind of constitution, so it defines and describes operations.  Some of its content describes reforms that have already occurred under Pope Francis's leadership.  One of these was the creation of an office to police financial matters within the Vatican.  Other reforms are innovations that are now just made public. Yet, there is an underlying, unifying theme that is captured by the title of the document, i.e., that the church's primary function is missionary work.

It is difficult to understand the significance of many of the changes without some insider knowledge of the Roman Curia's structure, but some developments are understandable to outsiders.  One of these later changes is that many Vatican offices will now be open to lay leadership.  This is significant because many leadership positions can now be filled by women whereas previously that was not possible.  Nuns will be likely candidates for many of these positions, but they do not have to be nuns.  Just today, Pope Francis announced that three women will serve on the council that that vets bishop nominations -- see this RNS news post.  Two of these women are nuns, but the other has been serving as the leader of Catholic women's organization.

If you are interested in learning more about these developments, Thomas Reese provides a nice discussion of the reforms on this blog post at RNS.

Religious groups must continually adapt to changing circumstances in the religious marketplace, and the Catholic Church is no different in this regard.  What makes the Catholic Church unique is its immense size, its long history, and its long-standing organizational institutions.  But even a group as old as the Catholic Church must still confront the challenges of being relevant and impactful in the world today.