Roman Curia

The Roman Curia (Romana Curia ministerium suum implent) comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. It acts in the Pope's name and with his authority for the good and for the service of the particular churches and provides the central organization for the church to advance its objectives.

The structure and organization of responsibilities within the Curia are at present regulated by the apostolic constitution Pastor bonus, issued by Pope John Paul II on June 28, 1988. A reform of the Curia under Pope Francis, with a new apostolic constitution, is currently planned.

Other bodies that play an administrative or consulting role in ecclesial affairs are sometimes mistakenly identified with the Curia, such as the Synod of Bishops and regional conferences of bishops. Gerhard Müller, former Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, wrote in 2015 that "the Synod of Bishops is not a part of the Roman Curia in the strict sense: it is the expression of the collegiality of bishops in communion with the Pope and under his direction. The Roman Curia instead aids the Pope in the exercise of his primacy over all the churches." 

Curia in medieval and later Latin usage means "court" in the sense of "royal court" rather than a "court of law." The Roman Curia is sometines Anglicized as the Court of Rome, as in the 1534 Act of Parliament that forbade appeals to it from England. It is the papal court and assists the Pope in carrying out his functions. The Roman Curia can be loosely compared to cabinets in governments of countries with a Western form of governance, but the only sections that can be directly compared to specific ministries of a civil government are the second section of the Secretariat of State, known also as the Section for Relations with States, the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican State (established in 1939 by Pope Pius XII) and the Congregation for Catholic Education.

It is normal for every Latin Catholic diocese to have its own curia for its administration. For the Diocese of Rome, these functions are not handled by the Roman Curia, but by the Vicariate General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, as provided by the apostolic constitution Ecclesia in Urbe. The Pope has, going back to St Peter, been the bishop of Rome. There is also a Vicar General of Rome, traditionally a Cardinal, and his deputy the viceregent, who holds the personal title of Archbishop, supervise the governance of the diocese in reference to the Pope himself, but with no more dependence on the Roman Curia, as such, than other Catholic dioceses throughout the world. A distinct office, the Vicar General of Vatican City, administers the portion of the Diocese of Rome in Vatican City.

Until recently, there still existed hereditary officers of the Roman Curia, holding titles dominating functions that had ceased to be a reality when the Papal States were lost to the papacy. A reorganization, ordered by Pope Pius X, was incorporated in the 1917 Code of Canon Law. Further steps toward reorganization were begun by Pope Paul VI in the 1960s. Among the goals of this curial reform were the modernization of procedures and the internationalization of the curial staff. These reforms are reflected in the 1983 Code of Canon Law. The offices of the Vatican City State are not part of the Roman Curia, which is composed only of offices of the Holy See. 

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