A Decree to Regulate Terms of Office

On the Solemnity Corpus Domini, the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has given a General Decree to regulate the length and number of terms of office in the international associations of the faithful, and the participation of members in the process of electing the international government.

The Decree has been approved in forma specifica by Pope Francis, is promulgated on June 11th 2021, and will come into effect in three months. It applies to all the international associations of the faithful and other bodies recognised or erected by the Dicastery.

The goal of the Decree is to promote a healthy renewal within government, so that authority be exercised as an authentic service of ecclesial communion, avoiding personalisation and misappropriation.

With the Decree comes an Explanatory Note designed to facilitate its correct interpretation. Both texts are published in L'Osservatore Romano, and can be consulted here. Also available is a commentary by Fr. Ulrich Rhode, Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University, one of the Dicastery’s Consultors.