Dicastery for the Clergy

Dicastery for the Clergy
Coat of arms of the Holy See

Palazzo delle Congregazioni in Piazza Pio XII in front of St. Peter's Square is the workplace for most congregations of the Roman Curia
Dicastery overview
FormedAugust 2, 1564; 459 years ago (1564-08-02)
Preceding agencies
  • Sacred Congregation for the Clergy
  • Sacred Congregation of the Council
  • Congregation for the Clergy
TypeDicastery
HeadquartersPalazzo delle Congregazioni, Piazza Pio XII, Rome, Italy
Dicastery executives
Websitehttp://www.clerus.va

The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (Latin: Congregatio pro Clericis; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regarding priests and deacons not belonging to religious orders. The Congregation for the Clergy handles requests for dispensation from active priestly ministry, as well as the legislation governing presbyteral councils and other organisations of priests around the world. The Congregation does not deal with clerical sexual abuse cases, as those are handled exclusively by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

History

It was first set up as the Sacra Congregatio Cardinalium pro executione et interpretatione concilii Tridentini interpretum by Pope Pius IV in the apostolic constitution Alias Nos of 2 August 1564 to oversee the proper application and observation of the disciplinary decrees of the Council of Trent throughout the Catholic Church. It was commonly known as the Sacred Congregation of the Council. Pope Sixtus V's Apostolic Constitution Immensa aeterni Dei of 22 January 1587 expanded the Congregation's functions, entrusting it with the proper interpretation of the canons of the Council of Trent, resolving controversial questions relating to it, and monitoring provincial councils. It later lost many of its powers, retaining only those relating to disciplining secular clergy, but still held onto its original name prior to Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae of 31 December 1967, which renamed it the "Congregation for the Clergy."

By 2009, Pope Benedict XVI made the Congregation responsible for managing the guidelines concerning clergy who maintained their clerical status after violating their vows of celibacy. On 25 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI gave it responsibility for regulating Catholic seminaries, which until then was the responsibility of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

In January 2013, the motu proprio Fides per doctrinam transferred the competency on catechesis from the Congregation for the Clergy to the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation.

In February 2019, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, Prefect of the Congregation, said that the Congregation manages the cases of priests who violate their vows of celibacy for approximately ten years. He said that "In such cases there are, unfortunately, Bishops and Superiors who think that, after having provided economically for the children, or after having transferred the priest, the cleric could continue to exercise the ministry." In February 2020, the Congregation made public its guidelines for managing cases of priests who have fathered children. The guidelines were previously secret, though in 2019 the Congregation offered to provide then to a bishops conference upon request.

On 3 June 2021, Pope Francis tasked Egidio Miragoli, Bishop of Mondovì, with conducting a review of the Congregation in anticipation of the replacement of its prefect in August. He expected it would take at least the month of June to complete.

Leadership

Prefect of Congregation for the Clergy
Incumbent
Lazarus You Heung-sik
since 2021
Congregation for the Clergy
StyleHis Excellency
Member ofRoman Curia
Reports toThe Pope
AppointerThe Pope
Term lengthFive years, renewable
First holderCarlo Borromeo

Since 2 August 2021, the prefect of the Congregation has been Archbishop Lazarus You Heung-sik. The secretary of the Congregation has been the Chilean archbishop Andrés Gabriel Ferrada Moreira since October 2021. In February 2022, Simone Renna was named under secretary.

Prefects

No. Name From Until Appointer
1 Carlo Borromeo 1564 1565 Pius IV
2 Francesco Alciati 1565 1580
3 Filippo Boncompagni 1580 1586 Gregory XIII
4 Antonio Carafa 1586 1591 Sixtus V
5 Girolamo Mattei 1591 1603
6

Paolo Emilio Zacchia 1604 1605 Clement VIII
7 Francesco Maria del Monte 1606 1616 Paul V
8 Orazio Lancellotti 1616 1620 Paul V
9 Roberto Ubaldini 1621 1623
10 Cosimo de Torres 1623 1626
11 Bonifazio Bevilacqua
Aldobrandini
1626 1627 Urban VIII
12 Fabrizio Verospi 1627 1639 Urban VIII
13 Giambattista Pamphilj 1639 1644 Urban VIII
14 Francesco Cennini
de' Salamandri
1644 1645
15 Pier Luigi Carafa 1645 1655 Innocent X
16 Francesco Paolucci 1657 1661
17 Giulio Cesare Sacchetti 1661 1663 Alexander VII
18 Angelo Celsi 1664 1671 Alexander VII
19 Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri
degli Albertoni
1671 1672 Clement X
20 Vincenzo Maria Orsini, O.P. 1673 1675 Clement X
21 Federico Baldeschi Colonna 1675 1691 Clement X
22 Galeazzo Marescotti 1692 1695 Innocent XII
23 Giuseppe Sacripante 1696 1700 Innocent XII
24 Bandino Panciatichi 1700 1718
25 Pier Marcellino Corradini 1718 1721 Clement XI
26 Curzio Origo 1721 1737
27 Antonio Saverio Gentili 1737 1753 Clement XII
28 Mario Millini 1753 1756 Benedict XIV
29 Giovanni Giacomo Millo 1756 1757 Benedict XIV
30 Clemente Argenvilliers 1757 1758 Benedict XIV
31 Ferdinando Maria de' Rossi 1759 1775 Clement XIII
32 Carlo Vittorio Amedeo
delle Lanze
1775 1784
33 Guglielmo Pallotta 1785 1795 Pius VI
34 Tommaso Antici 1795 1798 Pius VI
35 Filippo Carandini 1800 1810
36 Giulio Gabrielli 1814 1820 Pius VII
37 Emmanuele De Gregorio 1820 1834 Pius VII
38 Vincenzo Macchi 1834 1841 Gregory XVI
39 Paolo Polidori 1841 1847 Gregory XVI
40 Pietro Ostini 1847 1849 Pius IX
41 Angelo Mai 1851 1853 Pius IX
42 Antonio Maria Cagiano
de Azevedo
1853 1860 Pius IX
43 Prospero Caterini 1860 1881 Pius IX
44 Lorenzo Nina 1881 1885 Leo XIII
45 Luigi Serafini 1885 1893 Leo XIII
46 Angelo Di Pietro 1893 1902 Leo XIII
47 Vincenzo Vannutelli 1902 1908 Leo XIII
48 Casimiro Gennari 1908 1914 Pius X
49 Francesco di Paola Cassetta 1914 1919
50 Donato Raffaele Sbarretti 1919 1930 Benedict XV
51 Giulio Serafini 1930 1938 Pius XI
52 Luigi Maglione 1938 1939 Pius XI
53 Francesco Marmaggi 1939 1949
54 Giuseppe Bruno 1949 1954 Pius XII
55 Pietro Ciriaci 1954 1966 Pius XII
56 Jean-Marie Villot 1967 1969
57 John Joseph Wright 1969 1979 Paul VI
58 Silvio Oddi 1979 1986 John Paul II
59 Antonio Innocenti 1986 1991 John Paul II
60 José Tomás Sánchez 1991 1996 John Paul II
61 Darío Castrillón Hoyos 1996
Pro-Prefect
1998 John Paul II
1998
Prefect
2006
62 Cláudio Hummes 2006 2010 Benedict XVI
63 Mauro Piacenza 2010 2013 Benedict XVI
64 Beniamino Stella 2013 2021 Francis
65 Lazarus You Heung-sik 2021 present Francis

Documents


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