Pope Francis watches as a family carries offertory gifts to the altar during a Mass for catechists in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in this Sept. 29, 2013, file photo. In a document released May ...

Pope Francis on May 11 formally created a new official ministry in the Catholic Church for those who teach the fundamentals of the faith to children and others, opening the position to "men and women ...

The ministry is both ancient and new. Laypeople have been collaborating with bishops and priests in catechesis since the Acts of the Apostles, but a formal “ministry” for laypeople is something new.

Abraham Luque, a catechist from the Scalabrinian Parish of Our Lady of the Perpetual Help, prays during a Christmas event at the Scalabrini welcome center in Lima, Peru, in this Dec. 16, 2018, file ...

A catechist gives a reflection on Scripture at the diocesan center in Abuja, Nigeria, in this Sept. 3, 2010, file photo. Pope Francis will issue a document May 11 instituting the formal “ministry of ...

While millions of laypeople around the world are recognized as catechists in their parish or diocese, Pope Francis is preparing to formally institute the "ministry of catechist." The Vatican press ...