Leo XIV clearly does not intend to go it alone as pope. That he is developing a collegial and synodal style for governing the church became all the more evident this week when he held his first consistory with the College of Cardinals at the Vatican on Jan. 7-8. The pope confirmed this style when he announced at the end of the second day’s meeting that the cardinals would convene again in just about six months for another two-day consistory, around the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul at the end of June. He said going forward, he intends to hold consistories every year.
While his approach and style differ from that of Pope Francis, he is nonetheless continuing along the same trajectory blazed by his Argentine predecessor, as he seeks to further implement the teachings of the Second Vatican Council.
During the two-day meeting, the first American pope addressed the cardinals from prepared texts but also informally; he also prayed and concelebrated Mass with them in St. Peter’s Basilica and had lunch with them on Jan. 8. He said he hoped that each of them “would feel free to communicate with me and with others, and we will continue this process of dialogue and discernment” to see “what the Spirit is saying to the church.”
“You have called me as a servant of this mission, and so, I want to say, I think it is important that we work together, that we discern together, that we seek what the Spirit is asking of us,” he said in off-the-cuff remarks at the end of the first day. His message is clear: He intends to hold other consistories and engage the cardinals more fully in helping him govern the worldwide Catholic Church with its 1.4 billion members, as many had requested in the pre-conclave assemblies.
The College of Cardinals currently has 245 members, of whom 122 are under the age of 80 and so eligible to vote in a conclave. One hundred of the electors and 46 of those over 80 were created by Pope Francis. It is the most diverse group of cardinals in the history of the church, coming from faraway places such as Tonga, Australia, the Philippines, Mongolia and South Africa. The 93-year-old Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun had to get permission from the judicial authorities in Hong Kong to attend; Leo received him in a private audience before the consistory. However, the 81-year-old Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, whose diplomatic passport was confiscated by Venezuelan authorities before the Trump administration’s capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, was not permitted to travel to Rome.
‘I am here to listen.’
In his opening address on the afternoon of Jan. 7 to some 170 members of the College of Cardinals who attended the consistory, Pope Leo proposed four topics for their discussion: evangelization, how the Roman Curia serves the local churches, synodality and the liturgy.
He envisaged, however, that “due to time constraints, and in order to encourage a genuinely in-depth analysis, only two of them will be discussed specifically.”
During their first session, the cardinals voted “by a clear majority” to give priority attention in their discussions to two of those themes: “Evangelization and mission in the church in the light of ‘Evangelii Gaudium’” and “Synod and Synodality.”
Both were pillars of Francis’ pontificate. Released in 2013, the year of his election to the papacy, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”) was the programmatic document for his pontificate and expressed the theological and pastoral developments that emerged from Latin American theology in the decades after Vatican II. Synodality—particularly through the Synod on Synodality inaugurated in 2023, was the last major contribution of Francis to the universal church. Before his election to the See of Peter, Leo had been deeply engaged in both; now, as pope, he is promoting them as the path for the church to follow in the 21st century.
In this context, he is appealing for unity in the church and the overcoming of polarization. In his welcome address, he told the cardinals:
While unity attracts, division scatters. It seems to me that physics also confirms this, both on the microscopic and macroscopic levels. Therefore, in order to be a truly missionary church, one that is capable of witnessing to the attractive power of Christ’s love, we must first of all put into practice his commandment, the only one he gave us after washing his disciples’ feet: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
The pope decided that the synodal methodology of prayer, dialogue and listening would be adopted at the consistory. The cardinals were divided into 20 language groups, with English being the dominant language, followed by Spanish. Each of the cardinals could speak for three minutes in their respective group. (In the pre-conclave general congregations, each cardinal could speak for up to five minutes in plenary session.) Significantly, however, Leo decided that only “those nine groups coming from the local churches” would report to the plenary session, “since it is naturally easier for me to seek counsel from those who work in the Curia and live in Rome.”
“I am here to listen,” he told them. He recalled that the 2023 and 2024 synods had shown that “the synodal dynamic implies a listening par excellence.” Quoting Pope Francis, he reiterated, “It is precisely this path of synodality which God expects of the church in the third millennium.”
Leo told them there was no need to produce a text at the end of their meeting; rather, they should “continue a conversation that will help me in serving the mission of the entire church.”
In discussing the two chosen themes, he said they should be guided by the question: “Looking at the path of the next one or two years, what considerations and priorities could guide the action of the Holy Father and of the Curia regarding each theme?”
At the end of the first session, Leo, speaking off the cuff, thanked them for the two choices they made “by a great majority at all the tables.” He assured them that the other two themes “would not get lost” and acknowledged that “there are many specific questions that we must look at.” He reminded them that in their group discussions, “the journey is as important as the conclusion of the work.”
Offer gifts, not agendas
This morning, the Augustinian pope concelebrated Mass with the cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica. In his homily, he told them that by coming to the consistory, “We have set aside our activities for a time, and even cancelled important commitments, so as to discern together what the Lord is asking of us for the good of his people.”
He described their coming together for the consistory as “a highly significant and prophetic gesture, particularly in the context of the frenetic society in which we live.” The pope said: “It reminds us of the importance, in every aspect of life, of stopping to pray, listen and reflect. In doing so, we refocus our attention ever more clearly on our goal, directing every effort and resource toward it, lest we risk running blindly or ‘beating the air’ in vain, as the Apostle Paul warns (cf. 1 Cor 9:26).”
He reminded them, “We gather not to promote personal or group ‘agendas,’ but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us…and which comes only from the Lord.”
“Our college, while rich in many skills and remarkable gifts, is not called primarily to be a mere group of experts, but a community of faith,” he said. “Only when the gifts that each person brings are offered to the Lord and returned by him, will they bear the greatest fruit according to his providence.”
Continuing, he said:
Our ‘pausing,’ then, is first and foremost a profound act of love for God, for the church and for the men and women of the whole world. Through this, we allow ourselves to be formed by the Spirit: primarily in prayer and silence, but also by facing one another and listening to one another. In our sharing, we become a voice for all those whom the Lord has entrusted to our pastoral care in many different parts of the world.
At a press conference at the close of the conference, South Africa’s Cardinal Stephen Brislin said the meeting “has shown very clearly that the pope wants to be collegial and wants to hear from cardinals and others in different parts of the world.” Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of the Philippines and Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Colombia also spoke at the press conference.
Cardinal David said that “Evangelii Gaudium” is sourced and centered on Jesus and leads to Jesus. He was echoed by Cardinal Brislin in saying it is important to get to know the document better.
Speaking on synodality, the South African cardinal said there is “no blueprint,” and there is a need for a greater definition of what it means to be a synodal church.
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