Pope Leo XIV appointed this Thursday, August 28, six Latin Americans in Dicastery for the clergy, who will occupy positions as members and consultants.
This dicastery deals with everything related to the presbyters and deacons of the diocesan clergy, as well as to meet their needs for a fruitful exercise of the priesthood, offering their help to the bishops.
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Among the new members are Mons. César Daniel Fernández, Bishop of Jujuy (Argentina); Mons. Hilario González García, Bishop of Saltillo, Mexico; Mons. Luis Manuel Alí Herrera, Colombian, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of the Minor; and Mons. José Otacio Oliveira Guedes, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
In the payroll of dictators for the clergy designated this Thursday are the Paraguayan Cristino Bohner Bauer, rector priest of the Catholic University Nuestra Señora de la Asunción; and the Argentine Damián Guillermo Astigueta, professor at the Faculty of Canon Law of Collegium Maximum of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome.
What does the Dicasterio take care of for the clergy?
As indicated in your websitethe Dicasterio for the clergy is responsible for carrying out the application of the Apostolic Headquarters in regard to the formation of candidates for sacred orders, and assists the bishops regarding the vocational pastoral, to guarantee a solid human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation.
Among other tasks, it also deals with the livelihood and social security of the clergy, and studies the problems derived from the lack of vocations. In addition, it is their competence of cases of dispensation of the obligations assumed with the ordination to the diaconate and the presbyterate.
His work is structured in four offices: the clergy office, the seminar office, the administrative office, and the Office for the Dispense.
At present, the prefect of Dicastery for the clergy is the South Korean Cardinal Lazzaro you heung-sik, while the secretary is Mons. Andrés Gabriel Ferrada Moreira, of Chile. As a Undersecretary, Mons. Simone Renna, and Fr. Enrico Massignani occupies the position of Deputy Secretary for the clergy office, both of Italian nationality. The Superiors list is completed with Mons. Eamonn McLaughlin, from Ireland, who serves as Deputy Secretary for the Training Office.
Latin American presence
Among the members of Dicastery, five Latin Americans were already in functions: Cardinals Odilo Pedro Scherer and Sérgio da Rocha, from Brazil; Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, from Venezuela; Cardinal Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez, from Cuba; and Mons. Milton Luis Tróccoli Cebe, Uruguayan Bishop.
The payroll of consultants, meanwhile, already had two Latin Americans: the Paraguayan religious Lidia Ramona González Rodríguez and Fr. Emilio Lavaniegos González, Mexican priest.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.