Pope Francis
on Wednesday announced the creation of a new Vatican ministry for human
development in the latest move by the reforming pontiff to put his personal
stamp on the Catholic church.
The new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human
Development is being established by papal decree and will start work on January
1.
Francis is to
retain personal oversight of Vatican policy on migration, an issue dear to his
heart.
The new ministry is being created by merging four existing departments
dealing with justice, health, development and migrants and itinerant people.
The
move is part of Francis’s drive to streamline the Vatican bureacracy and put
efforts to defend and support the most vulnerable at the heart of the Church’s
mission.
“This Dicastery will be competent particularly in 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,” Francis said in a decree that
creates the new ministry with effect from January 1, 2017.
In a statement the
Vatican said ministry policy and activities related to migration would be under
the direct authority of the pope.
Francis has regularly spoken out in defence
of migrants trying to escape poverty, repression and conflict in pursuit of
better lives in developed countries.
The new dicastry will be headed by
Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson, one of the principal authors of Francis’s 2016
encyclical “Laudato Si” (“Praise Be”).
The letter to believers has been
described as one of the most radical documents ever signed by a pope.
In it,
Francis warns the planet is headed for disaster if it does not address climate
change, worsening social injustice and rampant consumerism.Vanguardngr
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