The Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life

The Pontifical Council for the Laity (1967–2016)

The idea of a permanent Roman body devoted to the apostolate of the laity originates in the conciliar decree Apostolicam Actuositatem on the apostolate of the laity, whose article 26 called for the creation of a Roman "secretariat" to coordinate lay movements at the level of the universal Church^[8]. Pope Paul VI answered this conciliar wish with the motu proprio Catholicam Christi Ecclesiam of 6 January 1967, which instituted, on an experimental basis, the Consilium de Laicis — the Council of the Laity — entrusted to the presidency of the Canadian Cardinal Maurice Roy^[9]. Ten years later, on 10 December 1976, Paul VI reformed and definitively confirmed the body through the motu proprio Apostolatus Peragendi, which gave it its lasting name of Pontifical Council for the Laity^[10]. The future Saint John Paul II, then Archbishop of Krakow, was himself one of its very first consultors, from the foundation of the Consilium in 1967^[11].

For nearly half a century, the Pontifical Council for the Laity remained the Roman reference body for all lay movements, associations and new communities recognized by the Holy See, as well as for youth ministry: it was within it that, in 1985, at the initiative of John Paul II, the Youth Section was created to prepare the future World Youth Days^[12].

From the Committee for the Family to the Pontifical Council for the Family (1973–2016)

In parallel, Pope Paul VI created in 1973 a first small consultative body, the Committee for the Family, to better accompany family ministry at a time of major societal debates following Humanae Vitae^[13]. This committee nevertheless remained modest in scope. It was John Paul II, in the momentum of the 5th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops devoted to the family (26 September–25 October 1980), the first of his pontificate, and on the eve of the publication of the apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio (22 November 1981)^[14], who gave it a fully dicasterial status: the motu proprio Familia a Deo Instituta of 9 May 1981 erected the Pontifical Council for the Family, charged with "stimulating, promoting and coordinating" pastoral action and Catholic studies devoted to marriage and the family^[15]. A rare event in the history of the Curia: for this 5th Ordinary General Assembly of 1980, John Paul II associated married couples with the synodal work for the first time — a gesture that prefigured the structural place given to lay people, men and women, married and single, in the future dicastery of 2016^[16]. In that same year 1981, the Polish Pope also founded the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, a distinct academic body, as well as the John Paul II Foundation, a charitable and cultural work established by decree on 16 October 1981^[17].

The Pontifical Council for the Family subsequently published several doctrinal and pastoral reference documents, including the Lexicon of Ambiguous and Controversial Terms on the Family, Life and Ethical Questions, as well as guidelines on marriage preparation and conjugal morality^[18].

Sedula Mater: the merger willed by Francis (2016)

Pope Francis announced his intention to merge the two councils as early as 22 October 2015, at the close of the Synod of Bishops on the family, before formalizing the reform less than a year later^[19]. On 15 August 2016, on the solemnity of the Assumption, he signed the motu proprio Sedula Mater, whose preamble justifies the reform by pastoral continuity rather than rupture:

"The Church, an attentive mother, has always reserved care and attention, throughout the centuries, for the laity, the family and life." — Pope Francis, motu proprio Sedula Mater, 15 August 2016^[20]

The text specifies that the Pope intends "promptly to employ himself in disposing all things so that the riches of Christ Jesus may pour forth adequately and abundantly"^[21], before deciding in the operative part: "by our apostolic authority, we establish the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, which shall be governed by special statutes", with the competences of the two pontifical councils being transferred to the new dicastery "as of 1 September" 2016, entailing "the definitive cessation of the Pontifical Councils" for the laity and for the family^[22]. It is the very first dicastery born of a complete merger of two previous pontifical councils in the history of the contemporary Curia — a laboratory, for Francis, of what the great Praedicate Evangelium reform would be six years later.

The statutes of 2016 and then 2018

On the same day the reform was publicly announced, 4 June 2016, Francis approved ad experimentum a first statute of the new dicastery, which entered into force with it on 1 September 2016^[23]. This founding text immediately fixed the architecture that would remain that of the dicastery: three sections — laity, family, life — each headed by a lay under-secretary, under the authority of a prefect assisted by a secretary "who may be a lay person"^[24]. The first article sums up the mission in a single sentence:

"[The Dicastery deals with] the promotion of life and of the apostolate of the lay faithful, [...] the pastoral care of the family and of its mission, according to God's plan, and [...] the protection and support of human life." — Statute of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, art. 1, 4 June 2016^[25]

A revision of this statute, still ad experimentum, was approved on 10 April 2018 and entered into force on 13 May 2018^[26], before the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium of 2022 durably fixed, this time permanently, all the competences of the dicastery within the very body of the general reform of the Curia^[27].

An architecture in three sections

The 2016 statute, taken up in essence by current practice, organizes the dicastery into three sections each with a lay under-secretary: the section for the lay faithful, which promotes their vocation in the Church — catechesis, liturgical life, works of charity, diocesan consultative bodies —; the section for the family, which develops family doctrine and proposes pastoral guidelines for engaged and young married couples, including the promotion of adoption; and the section for life, which supports responsible procreation, the protection of human life "from conception to its natural end" and accompaniment for women in difficult pregnancies^[28]. In the dicastery's current practice, the "family" and "life" portfolios are combined under the authority of a single under-secretary, while the "laity" section remains distinct^[29].

The apostolate of the lay faithful

Article 129 of Praedicate Evangelium charges the dicastery with animating the lay faithful so that they share "their experience of faith in social realities" and place "their own secular competences" at the service of pastoral care and, where applicable, of the government of the Church^[30]. This competence covers the canonical recognition of associations, movements and new communities of lay faithful — from the Teams of Our Lady of Father Henri Caffarel, diocesan priest and founder of the movement, declared venerable (decree on heroic virtues authorized by Leo XIV on 23 March 2026)^[31], to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal — and support for their integration into diocesan and parish life.

Youth ministry and the legacy of the World Youth Days

Article 130 specifies that the dicastery "expresses the particular care of the Church for young people" by supporting pontifical initiatives in this field^[32]. Since 2016, it has directly inherited the competence previously exercised by the Youth Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, itself born of the intuition of John Paul II. In his apostolic letter Dilecti Amici of 31 March 1985, addressed to the young people of the whole world on the occasion of the International Youth Year proclaimed by the UN, the Polish Pope wrote:

"The Church attaches particular importance to the period of youth: it is a key stage in the life of every man." — Pope John Paul II, apostolic letter Dilecti Amici, 31 March 1985^[33]

On 20 December 1985, John Paul II announced to the Roman Curia the institution of a regular international gathering, celebrated on Palm Sunday in each diocese and, every two or three years, worldwide in a different city^[34]. The first international edition was held in Buenos Aires in 1987. Since the 2016 reform, it is the Youth Office of the present dicastery that prepares, together with the local episcopates, each new edition of the World Youth Days.

The family and its mission according to God's plan

Article 131 entrusts the dicastery with promoting "family ministry" and "accompanying families according to the divine plan", in liaison with the episcopal conferences and the Church bodies concerned^[35]. This is the competence most directly inherited from the former Pontifical Council for the Family: marriage preparation, accompaniment of young couples, support for families in difficulty, defence of the rights of the family in society, the economy and political life.

The elderly

Article 132 entrusts the dicastery with ministry to the elderly and support for initiatives devoted to them^[36]. It is this competence that led Pope Francis to institute, in 2021, the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, celebrated each fourth Sunday of July, as close as possible to the liturgical feast of Saints Joachim and Anne — with the explicit intention of "preserving roots, passing on the faith to the young and caring for the little ones"^[37].

The protection and promotion of life

Article 133 assigns the dicastery the promotion of "the defence and promotion of life", from conception to natural death^[38]. This section notably coordinates its work with the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on questions of bioethics and the law of human life, and animates, worldwide, Catholic initiatives supporting women facing a difficult pregnancy^[39].

Two attached institutions: the Pontifical Academy for Life and the John Paul II Foundation

Articles 134 and 135 of Praedicate Evangelium attach to the dicastery two institutions with their own statutes: the Pontifical Academy for Life, linked to the dicastery according to its competence and charged with bioethical reflection at the highest level of the Holy See, and the John Paul II Foundation, a charitable and cultural work founded by John Paul II in 1981 to preserve his spiritual heritage, support students — notably from Eastern Europe — and welcome pilgrims to Rome^[40]. This John Paul II Foundation is an institution distinct from the John Paul II Pontifical Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, an academic body founded in that same year 1981, with which it must not be confused^[41].

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect since 2016

Born on 2 September 1947 in Dublin, ordained a priest for the Legionaries of Christ on 24 December 1978 by Cardinal Eduardo Pironio, Kevin Joseph Farrell joined the clergy of the Archdiocese of Washington as early as 1984, where he notably directed the Hispanic Catholic Center^[42]. Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Washington on 28 December 2001 and consecrated on 11 February 2002 by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, he became Bishop of Dallas on 6 March 2007^[43]. On 17 August 2016, two days after the signing of Sedula Mater, Pope Francis appointed him first prefect of the new Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life^[44]. He was created cardinal deacon at the consistory of 19 November 2016^[45].

On 14 February 2019, Francis appointed him Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, an office consisting in administering the temporal goods and revenues of the Apostolic See during a pontifical vacancy^[46]. This dual function took on particular salience on 21 April 2025: it was Cardinal Farrell who officially announced the death of Pope Francis, before ensuring, as Camerlengo, the management of the ordinary affairs of the Holy See until the election of Pope Leo XIV on 8 May 2025^[47]. Since 1 January 2024, he has also presided over the Supreme Court of Vatican City State^[48]. Under the pontificate of Leo XIV, Cardinal Farrell remains prefect of the dicastery.

The secretariat: a first for a married layman

The post of secretary, the number two of the dicastery, was long held by clerics before being entrusted, on 17 November 2022, to Dr Gleison De Paula Souza, a 38-year-old Brazilian layman, married and father of two daughters — an absolute first in the history of the Roman Curia for a post of dicastery secretary^[49]. Born on 14 May 1984 in Coronel Fabriciano (Minas Gerais, Brazil), a former member of the Congregation of the Little Work of Divine Providence (Don Orione) before choosing the path of lay life at the end of a long discernment, he holds a licentiate in theology from the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome (2015) and a master's degree in philosophical sciences from the University of Salento in Lecce (2019)^[50]. Since 31 October 2024, he has been assisted by an adjunct secretary, Msgr Dario Gervasi, born in Rome on 9 May 1968, previously Auxiliary Bishop of the southern sector of the Diocese of Rome and head of its office for family ministry^[51].

The lay under-secretaries

On 7 November 2017, Francis appointed the dicastery's first two under-secretaries, both Italian, married and mothers: Linda Ghisoni, a canon lawyer specializing in marriage nullity cases, born in 1965 in Cortemaggiore, took the head of the section for the laity; Gabriella Gambino, an academic specializing in bioethics, born in 1968 in Milan, took the head of the section combining family and life^[52]. Before this appointment, only three women had ever been raised to a comparable post of responsibility within the Roman Curia^[53]. Both under-secretaries remain in office in 2026, according to the dicastery's official organizational chart^[54].

Members and consultors

Beyond its leadership staff, the dicastery relies on its own members — among them lay faithful, men and women, single and married couples, from different regions of the world — and on consultors chosen for their specific competence in one of the three sections^[55]. This composition, very largely lay compared with that of the other dicasteries of the Curia, concretely expresses the conviction that presided over the very foundation of the body: questions touching the laity, the family and life must be thought through and governed, to a substantial extent, by lay people themselves.

The World Meetings of Families, since 1994

The first World Meeting of Families was held in Rome on 8 and 9 October 1994, on the occasion of the International Year of the Family proclaimed by the United Nations, on the theme "The Family, Heart of the Civilization of Love"^[56]. The event, then organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family, has since been repeated every three years in a different city. The tenth edition, celebrated in Rome in 2022 on the theme "Family Love: Vocation and Path to Holiness", marked a major evolution in format: owing to the post-pandemic context, Francis transformed it into a multicentric and dispersed event, celebrated simultaneously in every diocese of the world so that families unable to travel could experience these times of reflection and joy in their local Church^[57].

The "Amoris Laetitia Family" Year (2021–2022)

On 19 March 2021, the fifth anniversary of the publication of the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, Francis opened a special year entitled "Amoris Laetitia Family", coordinated by the dicastery and intended to reach "every family throughout the world" through spiritual, pastoral and cultural proposals implemented in parishes, dioceses, universities, ecclesial movements and family associations^[58]. The year concluded on 26 June 2022, on the occasion of the tenth World Meeting of Families celebrated in Rome^[59].

The World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

Instituted by Francis in 2021 and celebrated each year on the fourth Sunday of July, as close as possible to the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne — names coming from an ancient tradition (Protoevangelium of James, apocryphal), whom the Church honours liturgically on 26 July^[60] —, this day is directly attached to the dicastery's competence for ministry to the elderly provided for by article 132 of Praedicate Evangelium^[61]. In his annual messages, the Pope recalls that "there is no age of retirement for the mission of proclaiming the Gospel" and entrusts grandparents with the mission of "preserving roots, passing on the faith to the young and caring for the little ones"^[62].

The Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life is, among the dicasteries born of the reform of the Curia undertaken by Francis, one of those that most concretely express the Second Vatican Council's call to the co-responsibility of the laity in the mission of the Church. By merging in 2016 two previously separate pontifical councils — that of the laity, born in 1967 from Apostolicam Actuositatem, and that of the family, born in 1981 in the wake of Familiaris Consortio —, Pope Francis did not merely streamline an organizational chart: he wanted a single body to think together the baptismal vocation of the lay faithful, the mission of the family according to God's plan and the defence of human life from conception to natural death. Its composition, in which two lay under-secretaries and, since 2022, a married lay secretary hold leadership posts alongside the cardinal prefect and the bishop adjunct secretary, today makes it one of the dicasteries where the interplay between hierarchy and laity is most visibly exercised at the very heart of the central government of the Catholic Church.

• Read The Roman Curia to situate this dicastery within the whole central architecture of the Church since Praedicate Evangelium.
• Read The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for the dicastery with which this one coordinates its work in bioethics.
• Read The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches and The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for other dicasteries of comparable rank reformed by Praedicate Evangelium.
• Read The Venerable Henri Caffarel for the example of a movement of conjugal spirituality — the Teams of Our Lady — recognized by this dicastery.
• Consult the full text of the motu proprio Sedula Mater (15 August 2016) and of the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium (19 March 2022, art. 128–135) on vatican.va.
• Consult the official profile of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life on laityfamilylife.va for its news and up-to-date organizational chart.