The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development was established by the Holy Father Francis with the Apostolic Letter of August 17, 2016, in the form of Motu Proprio, Humanam Progressionem.
As of Jan. 1, 2017, the competencies of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, which ceased their mandates on that date, were transferred to the Dicastery. The Dicastery is thus called to express the Church's solicitude in the areas of justice, peace and the safeguarding of creation, as well as in those involving health and works of charity.
For a five-year period, the responsibilities regarding migrants, refugees and victims of trafficking were entrusted to a Section placed ad tempus under the leadership of the Supreme Pontiff, assisted by two Under-Secretaries. As of January 1, 2023, that Section became part of the Dicastery.
In 2022, Pope Francis' Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium brought to completion the work of reform of the Roman Curia initiated by the same Pontiff: a renewal of the Church that emphasizes its missionary vocation and encourages the life of communion, which gives it "the face of synodality" (P.E., Pr., 4).
According to the Praedicate Evangelium, the Dicastery has "the task of promoting the human person and his or her God-given dignity, human rights, health, justice and peace"; it is interested in "issues related to the economy and work, care for creation and the earth as a "common home," migration and humanitarian emergencies"; and it deepens and spreads the Church's social doctrine on integral human development (P.E., Art. 163). The Dicastery is also called to serve "the particular Churches, the Episcopal Conferences, their regional and continental Unions and the Eastern Hierarchical Structures," collaborating with them in the field of integral human promotion. It is thus intended to emphasize the centrality of the life of communion, "which is for mission and is itself missionary."
The Dicastery is competent vis-à-vis Caritas Internationalis, according to its Statutes; maintains a close relationship with the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, taking into account its Statutes; and collaborates with the Secretariat of State also by participating with the Holy See's delegations in intergovernmental meetings in matters within its competence.
The Dicastery is also competent with regard to the John Paul II Foundation for the Sahel, the Justice and Peace Foundation and the Good Samaritan Foundation. The same is entrusted with the supervision of the Populorum Progressio Fund for Latin America.