Pope Leo XIV issues a rescript effectively placing the Pontifical Committee for the World Day of Children within the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
By Salvatore Cernuzio
VATICAN CITY — From an organization directly under the Pope’s authority, the Pontifical Committee for the World Day of Children—established last year by Pope Francis to organize and coordinate the so-called “WCDs”—has now been placed within the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.
This decision was made by Pope Leo XIV following an audience granted to the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, on August 6, and was made public in a Rescript.
In the document—released on Wednesday but dated Saturday, August 9—it is specified that: “This Superior Provision is to be communicated to the two Institutions concerned so they may carry out the transition process.”
The new Vatican entity was officially announced in a chirograph, a papal handwritten decree, in which Pope Francis entrusted it with the task of overseeing the ecclesial engagement and pastoral organization of the annual event.
Established in 2024
It was Pope Francis, on November 20, 2024, who established—via a chirograph—the Pontifical Committee for the World Day of Children, giving it the mission of overseeing “the ecclesial animation and pastoral organization of World Children’s Day.”
This event, inspired by the World Youth Days (WYD), is aimed at bringing together minors from around the globe for a gathering of faith, music, and testimonies.
The first edition took place on May 25, 2024, at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, in the presence of Pope Francis, and saw participation from over 50,000 children and adolescents, including many from conflict zones.
Pastoral work for children
The same founding chirograph highlighted that the Pontifical Committee is responsible for coordinating and promoting initiatives from national and regional organizing committees, and for collaborating with pastoral offices of local churches and episcopal conferences, to ensure that World Day of Children does not remain an isolated event.
The goal is for pastoral care for children to increasingly become a priority in the Church.
In early February 2025, the Committee also organized a meeting at the Vatican Apostolic Palace titled “Love Them and Protect Them,” focused on deepening the discussion around the rights of minors, who are increasingly exploited and abused.
Pope Francis attended the event, along with royalty, politicians, and numerous subject-matter experts. The event, scheduled for February 3, 2025, and presented in the Holy See Press Office, would be opened and closed by Pope Francis. Speakers included Antonio Tajani, Mario Draghi, Liliana Segre, and others.
Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life
Now, the entire structure of the Committee is being transferred into the Dicastery, whose mandate includes matters related to the laity and the family, and which naturally extends to the pastoral care and attention to children.
It is this same Dicastery, currently led by Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, that also organizes World Youth Days (WYD), which were originally coordinated by the “Youth Section” of the now-defunct Pontifical Council for the Laity.
That Council was incorporated into the current Dicastery in 2016, as part of Pope Francis’ reform of the Roman Curia.
