Pope to hold annual consistories to ‘work together’ with cardinals

Cardinals are called ‘to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times’, said Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe in a reflection to open the consistory.

Pope Leo said he will hold annual consistories to seek advice from the College of Cardinals.

At the end of the extraordinary consistory on Thursday, the Pope announced that he would call another in June and then hold regular consistories every year.

He said the meeting was “in continuity” with requests made during the cardinals’ general congregations before the conclave that elected him in May.

Speaking on Wednesday evening to the 170 cardinals who attended the consistory, Pope Leo said: “I feel the need to be able to count on you.”

He continued: “It is you who called me to this mission. Therefore, I believe it is important that we work together, that we discern together, that we seek what the Spirit is asking of us.”

Earlier that day, the cardinals gathered in 20 small groups and voted on which two of the four proposed subjects for discussion – synodality, mission, liturgy and the Roman Curia – to consider in depth. The Vatican said they chose synodality and mission “by a clear majority”.

“The other themes are not lost,” the Pope said in his unscripted remarks. “They are very concrete, specific issues that we still need to address.”

At the opening of the consistory, Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe OP delivered a reflection on Mark 6:45-52, where Jesus walks on the water during the storm after sending the apostles out in a boat. Cardinals are called “to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times”, Cardinal Radcliffe said.

“If the boat of Peter is filled with disciples who quarrel, we shall be of no use to the Holy Father,” he said. “If we are peace with each other in love, even when we disagree, God will indeed be present even when he seems to be absent.”

He continued: “In the consistory some of us will be champions of memory, cherishing the tradition. Others will delight more in God’s surprising newness, but memory and newness are inseparable in the dynamic of Christian life. So our discussions will come alive if we are both rooted in our memory of the great things the Lord has done and open to his ever-fresh newness. There is no competition.”

The 20 discussion groups were divided between nine composed of cardinal-electors from local churches and 11 of curial cardinals and others over the age of 80.

The Vatican said that the limited time for the consistory required the cardinals to choose two of the four proposed subjects to discuss in depth. Pope Leo attended plenary sessions where representatives of the nine groups from local churches spoke, but he did not hear from the groups of curial and retired cardinals on the grounds that he can consult them more easily at other times.

Preaching at a Mass with the cardinals on Thursday morning, the Pope called the consistory “a moment of grace wherein our unity in the service of the Church finds its expression”.

“We gather not to promote personal or group ‘agendas’, but to entrust our plans and inspirations to a discernment that transcends us,” he said.

“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. 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.”

After the day’s meeting, which included time for free interventions besides the group discussions, Pope Leo announced his intention to call another two-day extraordinary consistory around the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June and annual four-day consistories thereafter.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, the Archbishop of Johannesburg Cardinal Stephen Brislin called the consistory “a very enriching experience” which helped the cardinals “to deepen our understanding” and “to get to know each other”.

The Biship of Kalookan Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, speaking alongside Cardinal Brislin, said the consistory “seemed really to familiar to us already” after the Rome assemblies of the Synod on Synodality, which employed similar small group discussions.

He said that the discussion of mission, based on Pope Francis’ encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, helped the consistory to return to the principles of the Second Vatican Council, ressourcement and aggiornamento.

“What we call a programme of papacy is really a return to the sources of Christianity,” Cardinal David said.

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