The Holy See Press Office reported on Monday, September 6, 2021, that Pope Francis appointed Reverend Enda Edward Murphy, an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, new Head of that Dicastery’s Office.
The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
The Vatican states that this Congregation is the result of the unification of two originally autonomous Dicasteries: the Congregation for Divine Worship (instituted with that name by Pope Paul VI with the Apostolic Constitution Sacra Rituum Congregatio of May 8, 1969), and the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments (instituted with that name by Saint Pius X with the Apostolic Constitution Sapienti Consilio of June 29, 1908).
Unified by Paul VI with the Apostolic Constitution Constans Nobis Studium of July 11, 1975, and with the name S. Congregatio pro Sacramentis et Cultu Divino, the two mentioned Dicasteries were restored in autonomy and with the respective names of Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments and Congregation for Divine Worship, by John Paul II with the chirograph of April 5, 1984.
With the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus, published on June 28, 1988, John Paul II combined them in one Dicastery with the name Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The Congregation addresses all that corresponds to the Apostolic See concerning the promotion and regulation of the Liturgy, in the first place, of the Sacraments (P.B. article 62). It promotes liturgical pastoral action in all that concerns the preparation and celebration of the Eucharist, of the other Sacraments, and of the Sacramentals. (P.B. article 64), as well as the Sunday celebrations, other feasts of the Liturgical Year, and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Translation by Virginia M. Forrester
