A congregation is a type of dicastery of the Roman Curia, the central administrative organism of the Catholic Church. Each Congregation is led by a prefect, who is a Cardinal. Until recently, if a non-cardinal is appointed to head a congregation, he served as a pro-prefect until he was made cardinal in a consistory. This practice has recently been abandoned.

Current congregations are:

• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Congregation for the Oriental Churches
• Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• Congregation for Bishops
• Congregation for Catholic Education (for Seminaries and Institutes of Study)
• Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Congregation for the Clergy
• Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
• Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life