The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development () is a

dicastery A dicastery (; ; from ) is the name of some departments in the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest C ...

of the

Roman curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

. The Vatican announced the creation of the dicastery on 31 August 2016 and it became effective 1 January 2017. Cardinal Peter Turkson was named its first prefect. The Prefect is to be assisted by a Secretary and at least one Undersecretary. On 21 December 2021, members of the dicastery's leadership submitted their resignations in anticipation of the end of their five-year mandate in January. Pope Francis accepted them. On 23 December 2021,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

named Cardinal Michael Czerny and Sister Alessandra Smerilli Interim Prefect and Secretary, respectively, of the dicastery, beginning 1 January 2022. On 23 April 2022, Francis named the two as the official Prefect and Secretary, giving them a five-year mandate.

Description

This

of the

Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...

combined the work of four Pontifical Councils established following the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...

: Justice and Peace, Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, and ''Cor Unum''.

has given it responsibility for "issues regarding migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture". On 16 June 2017 the Pope named Bruno Marie Duffé, a French professor with long experience in human rights and relief work, the dicastery's Secretary. Fr. Nicola Riccardi and Msgr. Segundo Tejado Muñoz were named undersecretaries, on 8 July 2017.

Migrants and Refugees Section

The Pope announced that "temporarily" he would personally direct the special Migrants and Refugees Section which is part of the Dicastery. He named the Canadian

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Michael Czerny (later cardinal) and the Italian Scalabrinian Fabio Baggio to serve as undersecretaries for issues related to refugees and migrants.

Vatican COVID-19 Commission

On 20 March 2020, Pope Francis asked the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) to create a Vatican COVID-19 Commission to express the Church's solicitude facing the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, and propose responses to the potential socio-economic challenges deriving from it.

Mission and activities

From the Statutes of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development:

References

External links

Apostolic Letter ''Humanam progressionem''
from the Holy See official website

from the Holy See official website

* YouTube Channe
Vatican IHDOfficial Website of the Migrants & Refugees Section
{{Authority control 2016 establishments in Vatican City 2017 in Vatican City Dicasteries Christian organizations established in 2016