The Apostleship of the Sea (Opus Apostolatus Maris) provides specific pastoral care for “people of the sea”. that is, sailors, seafarers and their families, as well as other people whose lives are existentially linked to navigation and fishing on the seas, rivers and lakes. It has long been a subject of particular concern for the Church.

This is attested to by various pastoral and legislative interventions by the Apostolic See, which have provided for the spiritual needs of the faithful who, for reasons of human mobility, cannot enjoy ordinary pastoral care, such as the Motu Proprio Iam pridem, of 19 March 1914, by Saint Pius X; the Apostolic Constitution Exsul Familia, of 1 August 1952, by Pius XII; the Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church, Christus Dominus, of 28 October 1965, of the Second Vatican Council; and the Motu Proprio Pastoralis migratorum cura, of 15 August 1969, of Saint Paul VI.

Among various categories of people affected by the phenomenon of migration, the Apostolic See has provided in a particular way for the needs of “people of the sea”, which provisions that have always emphasized the specific nature of this group of the faithful.

The Opera of the Apostleship of the Sea, established at the beginning of the twentieth century, received its first approval from the Apostolic See in 1922. Subsequently, in 1942, Pope Pius XII decided that the then Sacred Consistorial Congregation would have the “high direction of the Opera” of the Apostleship of the Sea (cf. Ex Audientia Ss.mi, of 30 May 1942, no. 334/40). This provision was confirmed by the aforementioned Apostolic Constitution Exsul Familia (cf. no. 8). On 21 November 1957, the Consistorial Congregation issued the Leges Operis Apostolatus Maris, laying down the norms for the pastoral care of seafarers and sailors, as well as granting certain faculties and privileges to the Chaplains of the Apostleship of the Sea. With the Decree Apostolatus Maris of the then Pontifical Commission for the Spiritual Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, dated 24 September 1977, the norms and faculties were revised in the light of the Second Vatican Council. Saint John Paul II, with his Motu Proprio Stella Maris, dated 31 January 1997, updated the previously issued norms and, finally, Pope Francis decreed that the direction of the Apostleship of the Sea should be entrusted to the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, which in the meantime has assumed responsibility for the pastoral care of migrants and travellers (cf. art. 166 § 1, Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium).

Considering the current circumstances and needs, as observed by those who work in the service of the “people of the sea”, and with the fervent desire that the spiritual care of the Church in the field of maritime pastoral care may continue with enthusiasm and generosity, I hereby establish the Apostleship of the Sea as the coordinating body of the Opera of the Apostleship of the Sea, with public canonical legal status, and at the same time approve its Statutes.

This central body of the Opera of the Apostleship of the Sea, pursuant to Article 166 § 1 of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium will depend canonically on the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and, in addition to the aforementioned Statutes, will be governed by the Motu Proprio on instrumental juridical persons of the Roman Curia, of 5 December 2022, and by the applicable laws of Vatican City State.

The above is without prejudice to the provisions of the Motu Proprio Stella Maris, of 31 January 1997, for the Opera of the Apostleship of the Sea.

I order that this Chirograph and the attached Statutes be promulgated by publication in L'Osservatore Romano, entering into force immediately, and to be published in the official commentary of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

From the Vatican, 6 November 2025

LEO PP. XIV

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Holy See Press Office Bulletin, 13 November 2025