dicastery

From Ancient Greek δικαστήριον (dikastḗrion, “court, tribunal”), from δίκη (díkē, “right, custom, judgement”).

dicastery (plural dicasteries)

1. (Roman Catholicism) A ministry or department of the Roman Curia of the Holy See, whether administrative or ecclesiastical.
   • 2022 March 21, Andrea Gagliarducci, “Praedicate evangelium: Things you might have missed in the new Vatican constitution”, in Catholic News Agency‎^[1], Denver: EWTN News, retrieved 25 March 2022:

     The dicastery will continue to oversee the appointment of bishops in the mission territories. … There is no longer a distinction between congregations and pontifical councils because all the Vatican’s main departments are now defined as dicasteries.

   • 2025 May 10, “Chicagoan pope not afraid of speaking truth to power in US”, in FT Weekend, page 3:

     The Argentine pontiff summoned him to Rome in 2023 to head the powerful dicastery for bishop appointments—a job that allowed him to build networks across the Catholic leadership.

2. (Ancient Greece) A judicial body of the ancient Athenian state, made up of dicasts.
   • 1910, William Stearns Davis, A Day in Old Athens‎^[2]:

     The better cause has conquered; and there is at least this advantage to the Athenian legal system, there will be no appeal nor tedious technicalities before a "higher court." The verdict of the dicastery is final.

• dicasterial