Pope Leo XIV, in a rescript, approved a new statute for the Labor Office of the Apostolic See (ULSA).
Vatican News reported that the new statute has several innovations:
These include a broader Council, with representation for the first time from the Secretariat of State, the Vicariate of Rome, the Vatican’s healthcare services (FAS, Fondo Assistenza Sanitaria), and the Pension Fund; a greater, more “synodal” involvement of the various represented entities; taking on a consultative role to assist Dicasteries, the Governorate, and other bodies in drafting specific regulations and other normative acts; and the requirement of expertise in labor law and Vatican law for lawyers involved in disputes brought by employees and former employees.
Praedicate Evangelium, the 2022 apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia, states that “everything that concerns the performance of the personnel of the Roman Curia and other related issues falls within the competence of the Labor Office of the Apostolic See, whose duty it is to protect and promote the rights of collaborators, according to the principles of the social doctrine of the Church” (Art. 11).