“Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network”
Vatican Foundation
STATUE
PREAMBLE
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network (hereafter PWPN) developed from the original initiative of the Apostleship of Prayer, which, created in France in 1844 by Fr. François-Xavier Gautrelet, S.J., and initially addressed to young Jesuits during their early formation, expanded rapidly as the apostleship of prayer for the Church’s mission, then reaching around thirteen million members in many countries. Subsequently, in 1915, the youth section, Eucharistic Crusade, now the Eucharistic Youth Movement, was born.
The Statutes of the Apostleship of Prayer have been amended over the years (1866, 1879, 1896, 1968, 2018) increasingly becoming a service of the Holy See close to prayer for the intentions of the Holy Father (as especially desired by Leo XIII and Pius XI). In continuation with his predecessors, Pope Francis wanted this service to the Holy Father, through prayer, to become a Pontifical Work. With this, if in the past the Apostolate of Prayer was perceived as a mission of the Holy See entrusted to the Society of Jesus, from now on, as the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, it continues to be entrusted to the Society (cf. Complementary Norms of the Society of Jesus, 309 § 2), but it opens up to a universal dimension, placing itself at the service of every particular Church in the world.
The PWPN coordinates and animates this spiritual movement in many countries, supporting the Holy Father’s evangelizing mission through prayer for a mission of compassion for the world. The Eucharistic Youth Movement is the PWPN’s proposal for young people.
TITLE 1
DENOMINATION, REGISTERED OFFICE, NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE FOUNDATION
Article 1
1. With the Rescriptum ex Audientia SS.mi, of 17 November 2020, the Vatican Foundation entitled “POPE’S WORLDWIDE PRAYER NETWORK” was established.
2. The registered office is in the Vatican City State, in Via del Pellegrino. It has public canonical juridical personality and Vatican civil juridical personality and is registered in the Register of Juridical Persons of the Vatican City State.
3. As of today's date, the Statutes of the “PWPN” approved on 17 November 2020 are abrogated.
Article 2
1. The PWPN is a Pontifical Work at the ecclesial service of the Holy See, which the Supreme Pontiff entrusts to the care of the Society of Jesus. It has a task of coordination and animation at a worldwide level, where countries and dioceses take up prayer as a form of apostolate and, in particular, accept the monthly intentions of Prayer proposed by the Holy Father to the Church, as the theme or content of personal prayer, or group prayer, thus collaborating with the mission of the Church to place itself at the service of the challenges of humanity.
2. The PWPN is open to all Catholics who wish to reawaken, renew and live the missionary character that proceeds from their baptism.
3. Its foundation is the spirituality of the Heart of Jesus and it is made explicit in the Recreation document of the Apostleship of Prayer entitled “A pathway with Jesus in apostolic readiness” (Rome, 3 December 2014), offering the disciple of Jesus a way for his or her feeling and action to be identified with the heart of Christ, in a mission of compassion for the world.
Article 3
1. The Foundation's assets consist of the initial endowment in the sum of € 150,000.00 (EUR one hundred and fifty thousand) and $280,000.00 (USD two hundred and eighty thousand).
2. The assets may be increased
a) by purchases, bequests or donations of movable and immovable property received by the Foundation and always intended for the achievement of the institutional purposes specified in these Articles of Association;
b) by contributions from public or private entities;
c) by profits from royalties, such as royalties from copyrights, from initiatives undertaken with the institutional purposes in mind.
Article 4
The PWPN proposes to Catholics a spiritual path called “The Way of the Heart”, which integrates two dimensions:
a) Compassion for the world and for human beings
The Holy Father entrusts the Foundation with the mission of making known, promoting and stimulating prayer for its intentions, which express challenges to humanity and the mission of the Church. It is responsible for their dissemination throughout the world and is committed to promoting them. People who accept and pray for these intentions open their eyes and hearts to the needs of the world, making their own the joys and hopes, the sorrows and sufferings of humanity and the Church, and are inspired to perform works of spiritual and corporal mercy. In this way, they live a spiritual path that allows them to leave behind the "globalization of indifference" and open up to compassion for the world.
b) Communion with the mission of the Son
Through this spiritual path, animated and coordinated by the PWPN, the missionary vocation of the baptised person is reawakened, enabling him to collaborate in his daily life with the mission that the Father has entrusted to his Son. In this way he/she becomes inwardly available to God's call, through His Holy Spirit, who challenges and guides every human heart and conscience towards the good.
Article 5
“The Way of the Heart” is a spiritual process pedagogically structured to identify with the thoughts, will and plans of Jesus. In this way, the baptized person sets out to welcome and serve the Kingdom of God, motivated by compassion in the style of the Son of God. This path makes him/her available to the mission of the Church.
TITLE II
ORGANS OF GOVERNANCE
Article 6
The Organs of the Foundation are:
(a) Board of Directors;
b) International Director;
c) Deputy Directors;
d) Auditor.
Article 7
The Foundation is directly subject to the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, who governs it through the Secretariat of State, taking into account the historical entrustment from the beginning of the Apostolate of Prayer to the Society of Jesus.
Article 8
1. The Foundation is entrusted to a Board of Directors (hereafter Council) consisting of five members.
2. The Council is presided over by the International Director who, as far as possible, shall be a member of the Society of Jesus, proposed by the Superior General of the same Society of Jesus and appointed by the Holy Father for five renewable years. The same Superior General will make the eventual proposal of confirmation to the Holy Father, for a further period.
3. The Council is composed, besides the International Director, of a representative of the Secretariat of State and three members proposed by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
4. The members of the Council are appointed by the Secretary of State for a five-year term and may be confirmed in office. The term of office of the Council is in any case extended until the approval of the balance sheet for the last financial year of the mandate.
5. If a vacancy occurs during the five-year period, replacements shall be made for the remainder of the term of office in accordance with paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article.
6. Counsellors shall forfeit their office if they are absent from three consecutive meetings without a justified reason; they shall also forfeit their office if they publicly engage in acts contrary to the morals and principles of the Catholic Church, or if they find themselves in situations that are incompatible with their tenure. The disqualification is declared by the Secretary of State, upon request of the Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Article 9
The Board of Directors ordinarily meets at least three times a year, extraordinarily when the President or three Board members deem it appropriate. If the International Director is unable to preside over the Board of Directors, the Board of Directors is presided over by the most senior Director until he returns or the Holy Father appoints a new International Director.
Article 10
The Board of Directors, as Administrative Body
a) ensures that the mission, vision, proper spirituality and ecclesial spirit of the PWPN are in line with the guidelines of the Holy Father and the Catholic Church;
b) determines the general guidelines and supervises the management of the Foundation;
c) deliberates on the budget for the following year and on the final balance sheet within the deadlines indicated by the Secretariat for the Economy; the budgets, accompanied by the Auditor's reports, after receiving the opinion of the Secretariat of State, are transmitted, through the Chairman of the Board of Directors, to the Secretariat for the Economy, which provides for their final approval;
d) proposes through the President, eventual modifications to the Statutes to be submitted to the Secretariat of State for approval, after having received the favourable opinion of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus;
e) approves the annual work plan and the strategic plan of the International Directorate;
f) draws up minutes of the meetings that are to be promptly transmitted to the Secretariat of State, and to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, after approval at the next Council meeting.
Article 11
a) manage the ordinary affairs of the PWPN;
b) to report annually to the Board of Directors on its management;
c) inform the Board of Directors about international projects developed and managed with the Assistance Committee;
d) to appoint the Regional or National Directors for coordination and animation, after consultation with the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, with the approval of the respective Episcopal Conference;
e) to appoint the National Coordinators, who - since this is not their principal mission - are part-time, and inform the respective Episcopal Conference;
f) to periodically inform the Superior General of the Society of Jesus about the activity of the PWPN;
g) to have continental meetings with the National or Regional Directors and with the National Coordinators.
2.Should the International Director be prevented from fulfilling his duties for the PWPN due to illness or death, he will be replaced in the management of the PWPN by one of the Vice-Directors, designated by the Board of Directors.
Article 12
1. To assist the International Director in his mission, he shall have two Vice-Directors.
2. The Vice-Directors are proposed by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and appointed by the Secretary of State for a five-year term and may be confirmed in their office.
3. They participate in the Board of Directors, but without the right to vote.
4. The Vice-Director, who temporarily assumes the functions of the International Director, due to the latter's impediment for health reasons or death, shall have the right to vote in the Board of Directors.
Article 13
1. The Single Auditor is appointed by the Secretariat for the Economy for a five-year term and may be re-appointed.
2. It shall be the duty of the Auditor:
a) to supervise compliance with the law, the Articles of Association and other provisions concerning the Foundation and in particular the keeping of the accounts and the correspondence of the financial statements with the accounts, in accordance with the rules laid down by the relevant legal provisions in force. The auditor may at any time carry out inspections and audits;
b) auditing the Foundation's financial management, carrying out cash audits if deemed appropriate and/or necessary;
c) Draw up a special report on the aforementioned activities, which is transmitted to the Secretariat for the Economy and a copy to the Board of Directors and the Secretary of State;
d) The Auditor attends the meetings of the Board of Directors, when the matters discussed require his presence, without the right to vote.
TITLE III
ADMINISTRATION OF ASSETS
Article 14
1. The Foundation has the legal capacity to acquire, retain, manage and dispose of temporal goods, in accordance with canon law and that of the Vatican City State, and is responsible for the management of these goods.
2. Conversely, the Foundation has neither legal capacity nor power to supervise the administrative activity of the national offices. This refers both to the assets already in the possession of these offices and to the assets that will be acquired after the entry into force of the present Statute. This juridical capacity lies with the individual offices according to the regulations applicable in their respective countries and reporting to their local canonical authorities.
3. The National or Regional Directors or Coordinators are subject to the legal system of the country for which they have been appointed in all matters concerning the administration and alienation of goods and the legal responsibility for such administration and alienation; taking into account the juridical form that the Pontifical Work takes in that country, as a juridical person (association, foundation, etc.), or without juridical personality.
4. The Foundation has no supervisory power or legal capacity over the individual national offices in matters of assets and finances. Its assets are completely separate from the individual directorates. Reporting on the administrative activities of the National Offices, such as budgets and final accounts, is not subject to the scrutiny of the Board of the Vatican Foundation, nor is it part of the budget of the Foundation.
TITLE IV
FINAL RULES
Article 15
The organization of the mission of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, including its orientations at the international and national levels, is specified in the General Regulations, approved by the Board of Directors, on the proposal of the International Director, subject to the prior approval of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus. This also applies to the Youth Eucharistic Movement, as an integral part of the same Prayer Network.
Article 16
Modifications to the present Statutes are decreed by the Secretariat of State on the proposal of the Board of Directors and after the favourable opinion of the Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
Article 17
In the event of the Foundation's extinction for whatever reason, the assets constituting its patrimony, (once the liquidation phase has been completed), shall be devolved by order of the Supreme Pontiff for purposes similar to those of the Foundation.
Article 18
For all that is not expressly provided for and regulated in these Statutes, the norms of the Code of Canon Law and the laws of the Vatican City State shall be observed.
Vatican City, 1 July 2024
FRANCIS
