At the end of the first day of the Extraordinary Consistory, the Director of the Holy See Press Office tells reporters that the roughly 170 Cardinals participating voted to reflect on the themes of synodality and mission, noting that Pope Leo XIV told the Cardinals that he needs “to be able to count on you.”
By Salvatore Cernuzio
By a “clear majority,” the roughly 170 cardinals gathered for the Extraordinary Consistory convened by Pope Leo XIV—the first of his pontificate—voted for “Synod and synodality” and “Evangelization and mission in the Church in the light of Evangelii gaudium” as the themes on which to reflect during these two days of work.
Due to time constraints, they chose these two themes from the list of four topics, which also included the liturgy and the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium on the Roman Curia and its service to the local Churches.
“One theme does not exclude another,” explained the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, in an evening briefing with journalists. “The Pope received indications of an urgency, or the perceived need, for certain themes. A way will be found to address them within the others.”
Synodal methodology
The Cardinals are both reflecting on synodality and employing the Synod’s methodology of dialogue and listening, with the Cardinals seated at round tables and divided into 20 language-based groups. Each intervention is around three minutes each.
“Synodality is the path God expects of the Church in the third millennium,” the Pope told the Cardinals, adding at the end of the day: “I feel the need to be able to count on you.”
Group work
The first part of the Consistory took place in the Synod Hall, presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life.
The Cardinals sang the Veni Creator, read a passage from Chapter 6 of the Gospel of Mark, and listened to a brief greeting from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, and a meditation by Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe.
They then moved to the Paul VI Hall for the group work, at the end of which Pope Leo listened to the final reports.
Only the secretaries of the first nine groups—composed of Cardinals from the local Churches—presented the work carried out and the reasons that led to the choice of two of the four themes. The secretaries of the other 11 tables provided only the titles of the themes chosen.
On Thursday, discussions and reflection will continue, preceded by Mass at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s, concelebrated by the Pope with the Cardinals.
As the Pope said in his address, no final text is expected, since the goal is to learn and exercise a collegial and synodal style—one of “working together” and “creating something new.”
Pope Leo XIV’s concluding words
“The journey is as important as the conclusion,” Pope Leo XIV reiterated in his closing remarks in the Paul VI Hall, once again underscoring the importance of the “experience of collegiality” in order to seek together to understand what the Holy Spirit wants for the Church today and tomorrow.
“Time is very short,” but it is important, he said. “I feel the need to be able to count on you. You have called this servant to this mission; it is important that we discern together.”
Cardinal Radcliffe’s meditation
In his meditation, Cardinal Radcliffe began with a question: “We are gathered in this Consistory to offer our help to the Holy Father in the exercise of his ministry in service of the universal Church. But in what way can we do so?”
Love and peace, answered the Cardinal, paraphrasing the Gospel of John. “If Peter’s boat were full of disciples who quarrel among themselves, we would be of no use to the Holy Father. If instead we live among ourselves in peace and love, even when differences emerge, God will truly be present, even when he seems absent.”
He spoke of times of “terrible storms,” marked by “growing violence, from armed crime to war,” by the rich–poor divide that “widens more and more,” by the progressive crumbling of the global order born after the Second World War, and by Artificial Intelligence, whose effects we do not know.
“If we are not already uneasy, we should be,” he said. In the face of all this, we can feel “alone, worn down, exhausted,” but “we must not be afraid,” Cardinal Radcliffe reassured. “Jesus watches over us and will draw nearer to us than ever.”
The same holds for the Church, also “shaken” by the “storms” of “sexual abuse and ideological divisions,” he said. “The Lord calls us to sail through these storms and to face them with truth and courage, without timidly waiting on the shore. If we do this in this Consistory, we will see him coming toward us. If, on the other hand, we remain hidden on the shore, we will not meet him.”
