A special Commission for COVID-19

On 20 March 2020, Pope Francis asked the Dicastery for Integral Human Development Services to create a Commission, in collaboration with other Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, in order to express the solicitude and love of the Church for the entire human family in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, above all through analysis and reflection on the various socio-economic and cultural challenges of the future and the proposal of guidelines to help us confront these challenges.

The Dicastery for Integral Human Development Services (DSSUI) has therefore created a Commission which includes five working groups:

Working group 1, coordinated by the DSSUI, is dedicated to listening to and supporting local Churches, in a service that makes them protagonists of the situations they are experiencing, in cooperation with Caritas Internationalis. The group has the task of collaborating positively with charity initiatives promoted by other realities of the Holy See, such as the Apostolic Almoner, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Vatican Pharmacy.

Working group 2, coordinated by the DSSUI, will deal with the research and study of the pandemic, to reflect on society and the post-COVID-19 world, particularly in the sectors of the environment, economy, labor, health, politics, communication and security. The partners of the Group will be the Pontifical Academies for Life and Sciences, together with various Organizations that already collaborate with the DSSUI.

Working group 3, coordinated by the Dicastery for Communication, will take care of informing the public about the work of the Groups and will promote communication with the local Churches, helping them to respond in an authentic and credible way to the post Covid-19 world.

Working group 4, coordinated by the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, will support the Holy See in its activities and relations with other countries and international bodies, communicating to them the fruits of research, dialogue and the reflections produced.

Working Group 5, coordinated by DSSUI, is responsible for funding to support the assistance of the COVID-19 Commission provided to local Churches and Catholic organizations, and its research, analysis and communication activities.

The objectives of the five working groups, presented to the Pope on 27 March 2020, will be coordinated by a Directorate, which will report directly to the Holy Father, composed of the Most Reverend Prefect of the DSSUI, Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson, by the Most Reverend Secretary, Archbishop Bruno-Marie Duffé, and by the Most Reverend Secretary, Don Augusto Zampini.