Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
one of the Congregations of Roman Curia
The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; Latin: Congregatio pro Gentium Evangelizatione) was a congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is also known by its former title, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Latin: Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide), or simply the Propaganda Fide. On 5 June 2022, it was merged with the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization into the Dicastery for Evangelization.
It was responsible for Latin Church pre-diocesan missionary jurisdictions: missions sui iuris, apostolic prefectures (neither entitled to a titular bishop) and apostolic vicariates. Eastern Catholic equivalents like apostolic exarchate are the responsibility of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. However many former missionary jurisdictions – mainly in the Third World – remain, after promotion to diocese of (Metropolitan) Archdiocese, under the Propaganda Fide instead of the normally competent Congregation for Bishops, notably in countries/regions where the Catholic church is too poor/small (as in most African countries) to aspire self-sufficiency and/or local authorities hostile to Catholic/Christian/any (organized) faith.
It was founded by Pope Gregory XV in 1622 to arrange missionary work on behalf of the various religious institutions, and in 1627 Pope Urban VIII established within it a training college for missionaries, the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide. When Pope Paul VI reorganized and adjusted the tasks of the Roman Curia with the publication of Regimini Ecclesiae Universae 15 August 1967, the name of the congregation was changed to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The early congregation was established in the Palazzo Ferratini, donated by Spanish cleric Juan Bautista Vives, to the south of the Piazza di Spagna. Two of the foremost artistic figures of Baroque Rome were involved in the development of the architectural complex; the sculptor and architect Gianlorenzo Bernini and the architect Francesco Borromini.
The public source identifies “Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples” as one of the Congregations of Roman Curia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Congregation, Evangelization and Peoples.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q386359. VIAF identifies the subject as 130788830. The Library of Congress control number is n80004090. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 1622, 1627 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.