Community under Comissioner: Eight Years of Restrictions Without a Single Charge
2017: Opening of apostolic visitation
The Brazil-based group was accepted as 'Pontifical Association' by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
In 2017, Pope Francis initiated an apostolic visitation against them, conducted by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
At this stage, according to their documentation, no formal list of charges or specific reasons for the visitation was communicated to them.
Parallel to this, various civil and canonical complaints were filed against the heralds. In the years that followed, more than thirty of these cases were resolved through acquittal or archival in both civil and ecclesiastical tribunals.
2019: Appointment of the commissioner
In September 2019, after reviewing the results of the visitation, Francis appointed Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, Archbishop Emeritus of Aparecida, as Pontifical Commissioner with full governing authority over the heralds.
The move included significant restrictions that are still in force. They cannot ordain deacons or priests, not admit new members, not open new houses, and various internal governance acts required direct approval by the Commissioner and the Dicastery.
2021: Directive concerning minors
In 2021, the Vatican Dicastery issued a directive instructing that minors living or studying in Heralds’ houses go home. The Commissioner had to suspend the implementation citing canonical prudence.
During this time, some families elected to keep their children in herald-affiliated environments.
Local bishops later clarified that previously reported “irregular exorcisms” within the heralds were in fact ordinary prayers of liberation permitted in pastoral contexts.
2024: Attempt to get back to normal
In early 2024, Cardinal Damasceno submitted a formal plan to the Dicastery proposing the conclusion of the commissariat. The plan detailed the submission of new constitutions and the preparation of a general chapter to get back to ordinary governance structures.
In March 2024, the Dicastery responded that authorizations for chapters and assemblies would not be granted.
Late 2025: Publication of the documentary volume
On 16 May 2025, Cardinal Damasceno submitted a complete 1,088-page report summarizing all actions taken under the commissariat since 2019.
In November 2025, the Heralds published a comprehensive dossier titled 'El comisariado de los Heraldos del Evangelio. Crónica de los hechos 2017–2025', coordinated by two members of the heralds, canon lawyer José Manuel Jiménez Aleixandre and philosopher Juliane Vasconcelos Almeida Campos.
The book includes over 700 pages of notarial documents, decrees, expert analyses, correspondence, and protocols.
It also records that no herald or affiliated entity has ever received a civil or canonical condemnation in any tribunal.
November 2025: Commissioner’s resignation and dicastery’s response
On 18 November 2025, Cardinal Damasceno submitted his resignation as Pontifical Commissioner.
On 21 November 2025, the Dicastery informed him that the resignation would not be accepted immediately. It requested that he remain in office for “a few months.”
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