Leo XIV Turns Secretariat of State into Ever-More Powerful Hub
The Personnel Regulation requires Vatican employees to uphold exemplary religious and moral conduct, also in private life. It sets employment rules: six-day work weeks, fixed hours, 26 days of annual leave, monitoring of sick leave, restrictions on part-time work, and bans on employing relatives within the same office.
The General Regulation represents a complete reconstruction of the curial system—administrative structure, documentation regime, digitalization, the rights of the faithful, and a renewed centrality of the Secretariat of State.
End of Latin
The previous obligation to draft acts “as a rule” in Latin disappears. Italian, English, French, and other modern languages may now be used normally.
This will practically mean the abandonment of Latin.
Faithful’s right to a response
For the first time, any petition arriving at the Holy See must be registered, assigned, and answered.
This creates an explicit right of the faithful not to be ignored and means an unbearable bureaucratic burden.
Re-centralization of the Secretariat of State
The Secretariat of State (diplomats) regains a coordinating centrality that had been weakened in recent years.
The obligations now include a mandatory sharing of documents among dicasteries, coordinated management of overlapping competencies, co-signature of joint acts, and systematic transmission of all papal-destined acts to the Secretariat of State.
The Curia is transforming from a structure that is at least partially decentralized into an increasingly hierarchical organism run by a network of diplomats.
Vatican must dialogue with superiors before acting
Any intervention concerning dioceses, religious institutes, or ecclesial movements must be preceded by listening and consultation of the superiors.
The new regulation explicitly addresses past problems: bishops or superiors who were sanctioned, replaced, or overridden without being heard. Cases were decided based on incomplete or biased information from intermediaries.
Digitalization, archives, and security
For the first time, the Curia adopts a mandatory digital archiving system, certified IT systems, classification of reserved acts into three levels, access logs, and controlled document destruction.
#newsQusnjkaozi