The Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship

With the intention of ever more furthering the liturgical reform established by the Second Vatican Council, Pope St. Paul VI (1963-1978), abolished both the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship with the Apostolic Constitution Costans nobis of 11 July 1975, and in their place established a new Dicastery called the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and for Divine Worship.

This Sacred Congregation was divided into two separate sections, one with the task of dealing with the Discipline of the Sacraments and the other with Divine Worship. The first section inherited what had been the competence of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, as prescribed by the Apostolic Constitution Regimini Ecclesiae Universae in Articles. 54-57; the second section, on the other hand, was given what had been the competence of the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship, as stipulated in Articles 1-4 of the Apostolic Constitution Sacra Rituum Congregatio.

Finally, Pope St. John Paul II (1978-2005), with the Chirograph Quoniam in celeri of 5 April 1984, again divided the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship into two distinct and autonomous Dicasteries: The Congregation for the Sacraments and the Congregation for Divine Worship.