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The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Congregatio pro Gentium Evangelisatione) is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities. It is perhaps better known by its former title, the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide). Renamed by Pope John Paul II in 1982, its mission continues unbroken. The modern term "propaganda" derives from the name of the Congregation and its mission; the word did not acquire negative connotations until the nationalistic propaganda campaigns of World War I. The construction of the palace was begun by Gianlorenzo Bernini, but in 1644, he was substituted by Francesco Borromini. This building and its chapel are one of Borromini's masterpieces. Founded in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV's bull Inscrutabili Divinae, the body was charged with fostering the spread of Catholicism and with the regulation of Catholic ecclesiastical affairs in non-Catholic countries. The intrinsic importance of its duties and the extraordinary extent of its authority and of the territory under its jurisdiction have caused the Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda to be known as the "red pope". At the time of its inception, the expansion of colonial administrations was coming to be largely in Dutch and English hands, both Protestant countries intent on spreading these religious doctrines and Rome perceived the very real threat of Protestantism spreading in the wake of commercial empire. By 1648, with the end of the Thirty Years' War, the official religious balance of established Christianity in Europe was permanently stabilized, but new fields for evangelization were offered by vast regions of Asia, Africa and the Americas then being explored.
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