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Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue

dicastery of the Roman Curia tasked with inter-religious dialogue with non-Christian, non-Jewish religions

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ1204343 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, previously named the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), is a dicastery of the Roman Curia, erected by Pope Paul VI on 19 May 1964 as the Secretariat for Non-Christians, and renamed by Pope John Paul II on 28 June 1988.

The Dicastery does not have responsibility for relations with other Christian religions, which are the responsibility of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, which also has oversight of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

Mission

The Dicastery is the central office of the Catholic Church for promoting interreligious dialogue in accordance with the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the declaration Nostra aetate. It has the following responsibilities:

to promote mutual understanding, respect and collaboration between Catholics and the followers of other religious traditions;

to encourage the study of religions;

to promote the formation of persons dedicated to dialogue.

While the Dicastery is responsible for the promotion of inter-religious dialogue, it does not cover Christian-Jewish relations. This is the responsibility of the entirely separate Pontifical Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews, which reports to the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and is headed by the prefect of that dicastery, Cardinal Kurt Koch.

The Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue is the central hub for dialogue in the Catholic Church. However, dialogue is often carried out at the local level by individual churches, many of which are supported by regional or national dialogue commissions. The PCID works closely to support these commissions and encourages their formation in areas where they do not yet exist.

The Dicastery is restricted to matters of religion and interreligious dialogue.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue” as dicastery of the Roman Curia tasked with inter-religious dialogue with non-Christian, non-Jewish religions. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dicastery, Interreligious and Dialogue.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1964, 1988—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1964-05-19. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Dicastery, Interreligious and Dialogue providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue”, the useful work is to connect “dicastery of the Roman Curia tasked with inter-religious dialogue with non-Christian, non-Jewish religions” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1204343. VIAF identifies the subject as 152574588. The Library of Congress control number is n90657320. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964 and 1988.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue” 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.