Dicastery for the Eastern Churches

The Dicastery for the Eastern Churches (also called the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches), previously named the Congregation for the Oriental Churches or Congregation for the Eastern Churches (Latin: Congregatio pro Ecclesiis Orientalibus), is a dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for contact with the Eastern Catholic churches for the purpose of assisting their development and protecting their rights. It maintains whole and entire in the one Catholic Church the heritage and canon law of the various Eastern Catholic traditions. It has exclusive authority over Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula, Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, southern Albania and Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel (and Palestinian territories), Syria, Jordan and Turkey, and also oversees jurisdictions based in Romania, Southern Italy, Hungary, India and Ukraine.

It was founded by the motu proprio Dei providentis of Pope Benedict XV as the "Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church" on 1 May 1917.

Patriarchs and major archbishops of the Oriental churches, and the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, are members of this dicastery by virtue of the law itself. The consultors and officials are selected to reflect the diversity of rites.

This dicastery has authority over:

This dicastery's authority does not include the exclusive authority of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and for the Causes of Saints, of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, including what pertains to dispensations from a marriage ratum sed non consummatum ('"ratified but not consummated"). In matters which affect the Eastern as well as the Latin churches, the dicastery operates, if the matter is important enough, in consultation with the dicastery that has authority in the matter for the Latin Church. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem is exempt from the authority of the dicastery, being directly subject to the Holy See.^{[failed verification]}

The dicastery pays special attention to communities of Eastern Catholic faithful who live in the territory of the Latin Church and attends to their spiritual needs by providing visitors and even their own hierarchs, so far as possible and where numbers and circumstances require, in consultation with the congregation competent to establish particular churches in the region.

In regions where the Eastern churches have been dominant from ancient times, apostolic and missionary activity is solely the responsibility of this dicastery, even if the above is carried out by Latin Church missionaries.

The dicastery collaborates with the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity in matters that concern relations with non-Catholic Eastern churches and with the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue in matters within the scope of the latter.