List of offices of the Roman Curia i.e. congregations, 
pontifical councils, and a brief explanatory note on each:   

The Irish Bishops’ 2006 ad limina will involve meetings with the following 
offices of the Roman Curia:

Congregation for Catholic Education: 
This dicastery has authority in three sectors: over all seminaries (except those 
falling within the jurisdiction of the Congregations for the Evangelization of 
Peoples and for Oriental Churches) and houses of formation of religious and secular
institutes; over all universities, faculties, institutes and higher schools of study,
either ecclesial or civil dependent on ecclesial persons; and, over all schools 
and educational institutes depending on ecclesiastical authorities. 

Congregation for Causes of the Saints:  
With the Constitution "Immensa Aeterni Dei" of January 22, 1588, Sixtus V created 
the Sacred Congregation of Rites and entrusted to it the task of regulating the 
exercise of divine worship and of dealing with the Causes of Saints. 

Congregation for Bishops:  
The Congregation for Bishops is the congregation of the Roman Curia which oversees 
the selection of new bishops pending approval. It also schedules the papal audiences
required quinquennially (i.e every five years) for bishops.

Congregation for the Clergy:  
The Congregation for the Clergy examines matters regarding priests and deacons of 
the secular clergy, with regard to their persons and pastoral ministry, and with 
regard to resources available to them for the exercise of this ministry; and in 
all these matters the Congregation offers assistance to the bishops.

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: 
This Congregation does whatever pertains to the Apostolic See concerning 
the regulation and promotion of the sacred liturgy, primarily of the 
sacraments, without prejudice to the competence of the Congregation for 
the Doctrine of the Faith.

Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of 
Apostolic Life:
This Congregation is responsible for everything which concerns institutes 
of consecrated life (orders and religious congregations, both of men and 
of women, secular institutes) and societies of apostolic life regarding their 
government, discipline, studies, goods, rights, and privileges. It is competent 
also for matters regarding the eremetical life, consecrated virgins and their 
related associations, and new forms of consecrated life. Its competence extends 
to all aspects of consecrated life: Christian life, religious life, clerical 
life; the relationship is of a personal character and has no territorial limits; 
certain determined questions of their members, however, are remanded to the 
competence of other Congregations. This Congregation also can dispense those 
who are subject to it from the common law. Further, it is competent for associations 
of the faithful erected with the intention of becoming institutes of consecrated 
life or societies of apostolic life, and for Third Orders Secular.

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples:  
The role of this Congregation is to direct and coordinate throughout the world 
the actual work of spreading the Gospel as well as missionary cooperation, 
without prejudice to the competence of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches. 
(Pastor Bonus, 85) 

Congregation for Oriental Churches:  
This dicastery received from the Supreme Pontiff the mandate to be in contact 
with the Oriental Catholic Churches for the sake of assisting their development, 
protecting their rights and also maintaining whole and entire in the one Catholic 
Church, alongside the liturgical, disciplinary and spiritual patrimony of the 
Latin Rite, the heritage of the various Oriental Christian traditions.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:  
The duty proper to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is to promote 
and safeguard the doctrine on the faith and morals throughout the Catholic world: 
for this reason everything which in any way touches such matter falls within its competence.

Secretariat of State: 
The Secretariat of State is the dicastery of the Roman Curia which works most 
closely with the Supreme Pontiff in the exercise of his universal mission.

Pontifical Council for the Family: 
This Council is responsible for the promotion of the pastoral ministry and 
apostolate to the family, through the application of the teachings and guidelines 
of the ecclesiastical Magisterium, to help Christian families fulfill their 
educational and apostolic mission. 

Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity:
The role of this Council is to engage in ecumenical work through timely initiatives 
and activities, labouring to restore unity among Christians.
 
Pontifical Council for the Laity: 
The Pontifical Council for the Laity assists the Pope in all matters concerning 
the contribution the lay faithful make to the life and mission of the Church, 
whether as individuals or through the various forms of association that have 
arisen and constantly arise within the Church.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace:  
The role of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is to promote justice 
and peace in the world in accordance with the Gospel and the social teaching of 
the Church.

Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples: 
This Council has the task of studying and providing pastoral care to “people on 
the move” such as: migrants, exiles, refugees, displaced people, fishermen and 
seafarers, air travellers, road transport workers, nomads, circus people, 
fairground workers, pilgrims and tourists, as well as those categories of people 
who, for various reasons, are involved in human mobility, such as students abroad, 
and operators and technicians engaged in large projects or scientific research 
at the international level who are obliged to move from one country to another. 

Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health and Care Workers: 
Its tasks are: to stimulate and promote the work of formation, study and action 
carried out by the diverse Catholic International Organizations in the health care 
field as well as other groups and associations which work in this sector, on 
different levels and in different ways.

Pontifical Council for Culture: 
The history of the Pontificium Consilium de Cultura, the Pontifical Council for 
Culture, dates back to the Second Vatican Council. A whole section of that 
Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church – Gaudium et Spes – emphasises 
the fundamental importance of culture for the full development of the human 
person, the many ways in which salvation and culture are linked, and the mutual 
enrichment of the Church and cultures throughout the history of civilisations 
(Gaudium et Spes, 53-62).

Pontifical Council ‘Cor Unum’:
Charity enables us to see in the poor and needy the face of Jesus Christ, who 
reminds us, “I was hungry, thirsty, lonely, and you helped me (cf. Mt. 25:36). 
Through faith in Jesus Christ, who “gave his life for us” (1 Jn 3:16), the history 
of the Church gives evidence of the springing forth of countless initiatives of 
Charity.  To this very day, Christians around the world care for the poor and the 
needy in ways ranging from the simple witness of the many faithful to the activity 
of large Catholic organizations.  This splendid diversity of initiatives and actions 
of Christian charity is to “bear the mark of a commitment of the whole Church and 
full faithfulness to the whole evangelical Message” (Paul VI, 1972). 

Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church: 
The Pontifical Commission for Cultural Heritage of the Church has the role of 
presiding over the guardianship of the historical and artistic patrimony of the 
entire Church (works of art, historical documents, books and everything kept in 
museums, libraries and archives); collaborating in the conservation of this 
patrimony with the individual Churches and their respective episcopal organizations; 
and promoting an ever greater awareness in the Church about these riches, in 
accordance with the Congregations for Catholic Education and for Divine Worship 
and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue: 
The role of this Council is to promote mutual understanding, respect and collaboration
between Catholics and the followers of others religious traditions; to encourage 
the study of religions; to promote the formation of persons dedicated to dialogue. 

Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts: 
The purpose of the Instruction is to offer the ministers of justice who work in
ecclesiastical tribunals a practical Document, a sort of vademecum that will 
serve as an easy guide to enable them to handle their work better in canonical 
processes of matrimonial nullity. Thus, it was desired to repeat the positive 
experience that the similar Instruction, Provida Mater, met with in 1936. 

Pontifical Council for Social Communications:
This Council is involved in questions regarding the means of social communication, 
so that, also by these means, human progress and the message of salvation may 
benefit secular culture and mores.


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