Dicastery for Integral Human Development: responding to “the challenges that the local churches pose to us”

The reform of the Roman Curia, the main objective of Praedicate Evangelium, the latest Apostolic Constitution of Pope Francis, is a process. Little by little, each one of the dicasteries must specify what the pontifical document requests.

Promotion, protection, development

In the case of Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Developmentwhich began operating in 2017 after the merger of four Pontifical Councils, Praedicate Evangelium entrusts you with the task of: “’promote the human person and their God-given dignity, human rights, health, justice and peace‘ (PE 163 §1) in all spheres of public and social existence, in the common home entrusted to our one human family”, as reported by the Dicastery itself.

What is asked of them “is to help and support the Holy Father and the bishops of the whole world”, together with all kinds of ecclesial structure and in everything that refers to “the promotion, protection and full development of the people of Godyes”. For this, they assume as a daily task “to listen, dialogue and reflect in a synodal way; discern, propose and support effective responses that strive to achieve and serve integral human development; and feed back the results to particular Churches and make the news widely shared.”

Three sections and three teams

The Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development will from now on organized in three sections: Listening-Dialogue, seeking to create bridges with those around the world who promote integral human development; Research-Reflection, identifying interdisciplinary responses from Catholic social doctrine; Communication-Restitution, formulating documents or concrete and useful proposals.

A job to be carried out by three teams: the General Secretariat, the Evaluation and planning section, and finally the one that will be in charge of the Administration and general services. To this end, “the Dicastery is very attentive to the concerns expressed by the local churches and to the specific requests they make regarding local realities and which change over time”, they state, citing various examples of how this is achieved: “human rights , health, justice, disarmament and peace, the economy, work, the environment, refugees and migrants, humanitarian emergencies, among many others”.

Agenda made up of local churches

A reality that leads the Dicastery itself to affirm that “our agenda is shaped by the challenges that local churches pose to us”. In line with Pope Francis, in the Dicastery, “synodal listening and reflection are the basis for later discerning, proposing and supporting effective responses”. The goal is “to help all the people of God to act evangelically in difficult situations that require transformation, for the benefit of all.”

All this seeking that the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development “incorporate ‘the guideline of the spirituality of the Council’, expressed by the ‘ancient story of the Samaritan’…”, making it a reality “a spirituality that has its source in the love of God who loved us first”, highlighting the call to “serve our brothers and sisters like Christ, especially those most in need, and that the face of Christ is recognized in the face of every human being, especially men and women who suffer”, words collected in the preamble to the Praedicate Evangelium.

A five-year process that has been renewing and shaping the mission of the Dicastery. A task that has had the collaboration of many people in search of making the great ministry of the Church of promoting and serving integral human development a reality. For this, the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development will have at Card. Michael Czerny SJas Prefect of the Dicastery, to the Hna. Alessandra Smerilli FMAas a secretary, and Fr Fabio Baggio CS, as undersecretary. They ask for prayers and support, offering to dialogue and cooperate.