ROME (OSV News) — Cardinals from around the world wrapped up a two-day extraordinary consistory on June 27 saying Pope Leo XIV’s initiative of convening the College of Cardinals twice in six months has already had one clear achievement — it has helped the cardinals to get to know one another.
“For years and years the cardinals didn’t know each other,” Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, Algeria, told OSV News June 27. “It’s a very good initiative of the pope and very useful for him and for the unity of the Church.”
The format for the June 26-27 meeting brought cardinals together in roundtable discussions, allowing them to hear perspectives from brother cardinals from across continents.
“Now, even if I can’t say that I know every cardinal, now we smile, we talk, we chat,” Cardinal Vesco said. “And this is very important. I think it’s very important for the pope himself.”
“We’re starting to get to know each other. That’s what he wants. He wants us to get to know each other … I think it’s working,” the cardinal added.
Pope Leo calls consistory a moment to seek God’s will together
In his closing remarks, Pope Leo said he wishes to continue to have the cardinals meet annually, adding “what matters is not increasing the number of gatherings, but learning to experience gatherings in which, by listening to one another, we learn together to listen to the Lord.” He announced he would reveal the date of the next consistory later this year.
“During these days, we have sought the Lord’s will together, convinced that Christ continues to work in his Church: it is he who goes before us, gathers us together, speaks through our brothers and sisters, and leads us in our mission. Everything comes from him and everything returns to him,” he told the cardinals June 27.
“Seeing cardinals from such diverse churches, cultures and situations listening to one another and seeking together what best serves the Gospel has been a source of consolation and hope for me,” the pope added.
Pope Leo highlighted topics discussed over the two days — war, poverty, young people, the family, synodality, the Church’s social doctrine and his recent encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” — and entrusted cardinals with implementing the synod’s teachings.
“Synodality is not a series of meetings, nor is it a working method. It is a spiritual style. It arises from encounter, grows through listening, and matures through discernment. The real question is not how many conversations we will be able to organize, but what evangelical quality our encounters will have,” he said.
The return of the extraordinary consistory
Before the election of Pope Leo XIV, the last extraordinary consistory of cardinals to be held was in February 2014 — a decade before Cardinal Vesco even received the red hat. For him, as with many of the cardinals Pope Francis appointed from more than 60 different countries, the extraordinary consistory experience with Pope Leo XIV is a first.
St. John Paul II held six extraordinary consistories during his pontificate, Pope Francis held one at the start of his pontificate, and Benedict XVI convened none, although Benedict did gather the cardinals for closed-door discussions during several ordinary consistories.
Pope Leo has now held two — in January and June of this year — combining discussion-style roundtables similar to those used during the Synod on Synodality with a traditional open forum structure, and giving individual cardinals the opportunity to speak to him directly.
Cardinal Vesco used that opportunity to reflect on the pope’s recent apostolic visit to Algeria. “I told him this morning how much he touched the heart of the Muslim people,” he said June 27. “A woman told me that when she saw the pope leaving Algeria, she had the feeling that a friend was leaving.”
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told journalists outside the Paul VI Hall June 26 that the discussions had touched on the current situation of the Church, adding that “this does not concern only the College of Cardinals but the mission of the Church in general.”
Cardinals discuss ‘just war’ and world crises
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, indicated that the cardinals discussed many crises around the world during the consistory, which included a session dedicated to Pope Leo’s chapter in his recent encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” on artificial intelligence and warfare.
When asked whether the cardinals had discussed the war in Gaza, Cardinal Pizzaballa told journalists, “we discuss everything,” as he left the Paul VI Hall during a lunch break. “But it’s not just about Gaza. There are many crises around the world. We’ve talked about a little bit of everything.”
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed the cardinals at length on Pope Leo’s treatment of “just war” in the encyclical. The cardinal singled out the conflicts in Gaza and southern Lebanon, saying the scale of civilian deaths, the disproportionate number of children killed, and the widespread destruction of homes amounted to “total destruction.” Cardinal Fernandez also criticized both Russia and the United States by name for invoking self-defense justifications for involvement in Middle East conflicts.
“What the encyclical now adds with regard to the Catechism’s teachings on just war is that not only the application but also the very notion of legitimate self-defence must be more clearly defined so that it can be understood in its strictest sense,” Cardinal Fernandez said. “Thus, the very notion of just war must be revised and refined, lest the classic criteria for a just war become useless and ineffective in today’s world.”
On both days, cardinals prayed together for the victims of earthquakes in Venezuela earlier in the week. Pope Leo opened his closing address expressing his solidarity. “We assure the victims, their families, and all those suffering the consequences of this tragedy of our prayers,” he said, calling on the international community’s solidarity with Venezuela not to waver.
Saturday discussions on synodality
The second day’s morning session, introduced by Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg, drew on “Magnifica Humanitas” to frame a discussion on what he called “the construction sites of our time.” Cardinal Brislin told the cardinals the encyclical was a call “to rediscover and value synodality as a specific form of building together as the Church.”
According to a summary from the Holy See Press Office, most groups focused on “the profound fractures of our time, between peoples, nations, within societies, and within families themselves,” and how those fractures generate particular suffering among the poorest, the weakest and the young. Cardinals also raised the challenge of artificial intelligence, warning that it reinforces the need to ensure human beings are not reduced to “numbers and statistics.”
The consistory’s final session on Saturday afternoon turned to the three-year implementation process of the Synod of Bishops on synodality — a process approved by Pope Francis just ten days before his death in March and subsequently confirmed by Pope Leo. The plan foresees assessments of progress at diocesan, national and continental levels beginning in 2027, culminating in an assembly at the Vatican in October of that year.
Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, opened the session by framing synodality as “a missionary resource.”
“It helps the Church to listen more attentively to the questions of humanity, to recognize the signs of the times, to value the gifts of all, and to discern together the steps to be taken,” Cardinal Grech said. “In this way, the implementation phase becomes a new stage in the reception of the Second Vatican Council and in the missionary renewal of the Church within the concrete realities of ecclesial life.”
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, moderated the final session, after which cardinals delivered brief personal interventions before the pope gave his closing address.
Looking ahead to the October meeting on the family
Pope Leo also looked ahead to an October meeting with presidents of bishops’ conferences and the heads of Eastern Churches to discuss marriage and the family, adding that “some families will also participate to share their experiences” and that he hopes that “all who attend will prepare themselves by listening attentively and bringing the experiences of families from their own Churches.”
“This Consistory has been a precious moment, but it must not remain an isolated event,” Pope Leo said. “Throughout the Church, we wish to foster spaces where the People of God can listen to one another, pray, discern and walk together. This is the very essence of the process of implementing the Synod.”
“This will also be the spirit of the upcoming meeting dedicated to ‘Amoris laetitia’ and of many other initiatives that the Lord will ask us to undertake,” he added.
At the conclusion of two days of discussion, Pope Leo joined the cardinals for a dinner together in the Paul VI Hall. The cardinals are also invited to join the pope for Mass on June 29 for the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, during which newly appointed archbishops — including four from the United States — will receive the pallium.
Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.
