Moderator of the curia is a top administrative position held by a Catholic priest in a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

under the supervision of the bishop. The moderator coordinates the exercise of the administrative duties and oversees the office holders, or

curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

, in the diocese. Moderator of the curia has been compared to that of a

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

(COO) in a corporation. Although the office was first included in the

1983 Code of Canon Law The 1983 ''Code of Canon Law'' (abbreviated 1983 CIC from its Latin title ''Codex Iuris Canonici''), also called the Johanno-Pauline Code, is the "fundamental body of Ecclesiastical Law, ecclesiastical laws for the Latin Church". It is the sec ...

, the concept is much older. A bishop does not have to appoint a moderator; he can supervise the diocese administration himself or delegate the responsibility to other priests. The

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

of the diocese frequently serves also as moderator. According to the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

, the moderator of the curia must follow the general principle:

"...that diocesan structures should always be at the service of the ''good of souls'' and that administrative demands should not take precedence over the care of persons. Therefore, he should see that the operation is smooth and efficient, avoiding all unnecessary complexity or bureaucracy, and always directed towards its proper supernatural end."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moderator Of The Curia Catholic ecclesiastical titles Catholic canonical structures

See also

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