Pope Francis appointed Father Thomas George Schluep an official of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, reported the Holy See Press Office on November 23.
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
According to the Holy See’s profile of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, with the new Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus of June 28, 1988, states that “it corresponds to the Congregation to direct and coordinate its work worldwide for the evangelization of peoples and missionary cooperation, except what is the competence of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches” (Art. 85).
Moreover, the Congregation has direct and exclusive competence on its territories, with the exception of those that are the competence of other Dicasteries in various matters (cf. Art. 88;89).
The Congregation erects and divides in its territories the missionary circumscriptions according to the circumstances.
In addition, it presides over the Government of the missions and examines all questions and reports presented by the Ordinaries and the Episcopal Conferences. The Societies of Apostolic Life, erected in favor of the Missions, remain subject to the Congregation (Art. 90, paragraph 2). The Congregation also administers its own patrimony and the other goods destined to the missions through an office dedicated to this (Art. 92)
Pope Francis named Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on December 8, 2019. Tagle is the second Asian to head that Congregation, following Cardinal Ivan Dias, who was prefect from 2006 to 2011. He is the second Filipino cardinal to lead a congregation of the Roman Curia after Jose Tomas Sanchez, who headed the Congregation for the Clergy from 1991 to 1996.
Pope Francis promoted him to the highest rank of cardinal, Cardinal-Bishop, on May 1, 2020; he is the first Filipino to be included in that rank of the College of Cardinals, and he is also the first Cardinal-Bishop who has not been simultaneously appointed as the head of a titular suburbicarian see, a break with tradition and Canon Law Section 350.
