A pontifical council was a mid-sized department or
dicastery of the
Roman Curia, the central organization responsible for assisting the
Pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
in the governance and oversight 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 Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. Such a council had a cardinal or archbishop as its president and was restricted in its activities in comparison with the larger parts of the Curia.
List of pontifical councils
The former pontifical councils were:
*
Pontifical Council for Culture (20 May 1982)
*
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (19 May 1964, renamed 28 June 1988)
*
Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts (5 September 1917, renamed 28 June 1988)
*
Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (5 June 1960, renamed 28 June 1988)
*
Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization (28 June 2010)
*
Pontifical Council ''Cor Unum'', established 15 July 1971
*
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, established 6 January 1967, renamed 28 June 1988
*
, established 11 February 1985
*
Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants, established 28 June 1988
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 ...
has undertaken a reorganization of the Roman Curia that has eliminated several councils by incorporating their activities into parts of the curia with broader responsibilities. On 29 June 2016, the
Pontifical Council for Social Communications, which was created on 30 January 1948, was assumed by the
Secretariat for Communications. On 1 September 2016, the
Pontifical Council for the Family, established 9 May 1981, and the
Pontifical Council for the Laity
The Pontifical Council for the Laity was a pontifical council of the Roman Catholic Curia from 1967 to 2016. It had the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity in lay ecclesial movements or individually, and their ...
, established 6 January 1967, were assumed by the
Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life. On 1 January 2017, these four pontifical councils were assumed by the
Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
Since ''
Praedicate evangelium''
entered into force (5 June 2022), there are no more active pontifical councils.
References
{{Holy See