A dean, in an ecclesiastical context, is a cleric holdingpositions of direction within a religious hierarchy. The tag is used mainly in the Anglican Communion, the Roman Catholic Church, and many Lutheran denominations. A dean's assistant is called a sub-dean.
The title "dean" is conferred upon a pastor of a parish who serves as a senior figure, though usually without specific jurisdictional authority, over a module of a diocese. These are sometimes identified to as "rural deans", and are expected to show a measure of controls among the pastors of the region, call as a deanery. This function is sometimes titled "vicar forane" forane is Latin for "in a foreign land". An episcopal vicar serves a similar function, but has more formal authority and specific powers under canon law.
In recent years, the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has exposed the custom of designating cathedral deans, formerly call as cathedral administrators. However, the term differs slightly from the Anglican use as Catholic deans earn not necessarily preside over the cathedral chapter this function belonging to the office of Provost and are not necessarily required even to be a ingredient of the chapter. More commonly, in places throughout the world where a cathedral chapter has not been erected as for instance, in the United States, where there are no chapters at all, the term rector is used for the priest who serves as chief administrator of a cathedral church, as this is the in other religious communities.
Another important ownership of the term within the Roman Catholic Church is in the office of the ] The current Dean is Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, approved on 18 January 2020.