Pope Francis has arranged for the institution of the General Directorate of Personnel at the Section for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State. This is according to the Holy See Press Office bulletin, which informs that the Pontiff’s decision is a response to the proposal advanced by the Council of Cardinals and the Council for the Economy. The General Directorate of Personnel will take on the tasks of the current Personnel Office of the Secretariat of State, and its competence will extend not only to the Dicasteries and entities of the Holy See itself, but also the Institutes (for example, the Institute for the Works of Religion), Factories, Chapters, Administrations, Organs, Foundations, Domus and other entities dependent on the Holy See or in some way connected to it, in derogation of the respective Regulations.

This new Directorate will be presided over by a director and will be endowed with “strategic, inspection and operational power”, with functions of “coordination, control and supervision”. “It will also be equipped so as to be able to respond, in a timely fashion, to the various requests it will be called upon to meet”. The new General Directorate of Personnel will maintain “close links” with the Secretariat for the Economy, the Labour Office of the Apostolic See, the Pension Fund and the Governorate of Vatican City State, as well as with the independent evaluation commission for the recruitment of lay personnel to the Apostolic See. This, the Holy See Press Office highlights, is a “step of great importance on the path of reform initiated by the Holy Father”.