Pope Leo XIV has abolished the Pontifical Committee for World Children's Day and transferred oversight of the event to the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, in line with a new papal decree issued this week.
What the Decree Changes
The move means the small, independent pontifical committee created by Pope Francis in 2024 will no longer exist as a separate body reporting directly to the pope.
Instead, the planning and coordination of World Children's Day will now fall under the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which already oversees initiatives for families, lay Catholics, and large‑scale youth events such as World Youth Day.
The decision was formalized in a chirograph (a papal handwritten decree) that ends the earlier chirograph establishing the committee, while ensuring that the event itself continues, according to the Vatican News.
World Children's Day was established by Pope Francis on December 8, 2023, with the first edition held at Rome's Olympic Stadium on May 25, 2024. That gathering brought together more than 50,000 children and adolescents from 77 countries, including those affected by war and conflict, for a day of prayer, music, and personal testimonies.
Inspired by the model of World Youth Days, the event is designed to affirm the Church's special attention to children and to encourage local churches to integrate care for minors into their ordinary pastoral work.
The Pontifical Committee for World Children's Day was set up in November 2024 to handle the "ecclesial animation and pastoral organization" of the event, including links with national and regional organizing groups. It reported directly to the pope, functioning somewhat outside the usual Vatican structure.
By placing it under the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Pope Leo XIV is aligning children's events with the broader family and youth‑focused structures of the Roman Curia, which the dicastery already manages, Magisterium reported.
Implications for the Future
The 2026 celebration of World Children's Day is scheduled to take place in Rome in September, and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life will now lead preparations for that edition and future ones.
The transfer aims to streamline coordination, reduce duplication, and embed the event more firmly within the Church's long‑term pastoral care for children and families.
For bishops and local organizers around the world, this means they will work through the dicastery rather than the now‑abolished committee, while still promoting the same goals of faith, joy, and solidarity among young people, as per CBCP News.
