[1] The dicastery is described in Praedicate evangelium as "at the service of the work of evangelization so that Christ, the light of the peoples, may be known and witnessed to in word and deed and that His Mystical Body, which is the Church, may be built up.

The Dicastery is responsible for the fundamental questions of evangelization in the world and for the establishment, accompaniment and support of the new particular Churches, without prejudice to the competence of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.

This is interpreted as meaning the Dicastery for Evangelization is made most important of all departments.

For around the past 500 years, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and its equivalents were always the most important department.

This hierarchy of organization is peculiar to this Dicastery, compared to other dicasteries in the Roman Curia, in that Praedicate evangelium provides for the incumbent pope to serve as its prefect, assisted by two pro-prefects.