One major change is the formation of a Control and Inspection Unit which carries the primary responsibility of assessing the “efficiency and effectiveness” of the various departments within the governorate.
Additionally, the director will now have total “personal responsibility for the activity of the directorate” to ensure accountability and compliance.
Another major change is the reassignment of the pontifical palace of Castel Gandolfo from the administration of the Directorate of the Pontifical Villas to the administration of the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage.
Since the beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has been open about the Vatican’s need for a total reorganisation of its governorate, “in order to make it ever more suitable to current needs, to the celestial service that is called to lend to the mission of the Roman pontiff in the world and the particular institutional purpose of the Vatican City State.”
The purpose of the new laws, the Pope says, is to respond to “the urgent need to reorganise the structure of the state and to make it respond to today’s needs.”
Their objectives centred on “rationalisation, economisation and simplification,” the presidency of the governorate explained.
As a result of the legislation, the number of governorate departments will be reduced from nine to seven, and the central offices have been reduced from nine to two.
The structure of the governing bodies, the presidency and the secretary-general were not significantly affected.