On 23 December 2021, Pope Francis named Cardinal Michael Czerny and Sister Alessandra Smerilli Interim Prefect and Secretary, respectively, of the dicastery, beginning 1 January 2022.
[3] Pope Francis has given it responsibility for "issues regarding migrants, those in need, the sick, the excluded and marginalized, the imprisoned and the unemployed, as well as victims of armed conflict, natural disasters, and all forms of slavery and torture".
[4] On 16 June 2017 the Pope named Bruno Marie Duffé, a French professor with long experience in human rights and relief work, the dicastery's Secretary.
[6] He named the Canadian Jesuit Michael Czerny (later cardinal) and the Italian Scalabrinian Fabio Baggio to serve as undersecretaries for issues related to refugees and migrants.
[7] On 20 March 2020, Pope Francis asked the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) to create a Vatican COVID-19 Commission to express the Church's solicitude facing the COVID-19 pandemic, and propose responses to the potential socio-economic challenges deriving from it.