By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Jun 24, 2021 / 12:00 pm

Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago will conduct an apostolic visitation at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Vatican said Thursday.

The inspection will begin in a few days, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists June 24.

He said that the visit was taking place “in the context of a normal examination of the activity of the dicasteries, aimed at acquiring an updated representation of the conditions in which they operate.”

Cupich has been a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops since 2016.

The visitation will be the third to take place at offices of the Roman Curia in recent months.

In March, a visitation was conducted at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments before Pope Francis appointed its new prefect, Archbishop Arthur Roche.

The pope is said to have also ordered an inspection of the Congregation for the Clergy ahead of the transition to its new leadership, Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik.

The 69-year-old bishop was appointed earlier this month and is the first Korean to lead a Vatican congregation.

Several other curial departments could see new leaders appointed this year as their prefects reach retirement age.

Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, will both turn 78 this year.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, recently turned 77.

Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, the president of the Vatican City State administration, turned 78 last October.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development is led by the 72-year-old Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson.

Another shake-up in the Roman Curia could include the long-awaited publication of a new apostolic constitution, expected for later this year.

Praedicate evangelium will replace the 1988 constitution Pastor bonus.