Cardinals who spoke to the Register as they entered the consistory all said they welcomed the Pope\u2019s decision to host the two-day meeting.<\/p>\n
Participants in the Jan. 7-8 extraordinary consistory in Rome shared their thoughts with the Register Wednesday on Pope Leo XIV\u2019s first major meeting with the College of Cardinals since his election in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a moment of grace, of sharing, of deepening, and of listening on various topics,\u201d predicted Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto, as he walked from his Rome residence to the Synod Hall in the Paul VI Hall to attend the gathering\u2019s opening session. \u201cI\u2019m going with an open heart, let\u2019s see how it develops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite some concerns that the extraordinary consistory might be too close to the Feast of the Epiphany and that the time for assembly interventions (just 100 minutes in total) may be too short, a large majority of the world\u2019s cardinals are attending the Jan. 7-8 meeting. <\/p>\n
The closed-door meeting will focus on four interconnected themes: the role of the College of Cardinals in Leo XIV\u2019s governance, the future of synodality, the reform of the Curia, and broad questions about the liturgy. Discussions will mostly take place in small working groups. <\/p>\n
The Vatican has presented the gathering as a strictly consultative, closed-door meeting, focused on prayer, reflection, and \u201ccommon discernment\u201d to support the Pope in his \u201chigh and demanding responsibility\u201d in governing the universal Church. <\/p>\n
Those who spoke to the press as they entered the consistory all said they welcomed the Pope\u2019s decision to host the two-day meeting. It comes after the suspension in 2014 of almost all such papal meetings with the sacred college. Francis preferred to consult his council of nine cardinals, the so-called C9, that met on a regular basis. <\/p>\n
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg said the C9 no longer exists but that he thought it would be a \u201cgood idea\u201d to revive it, and that it would be \u201cimportant that all continents are represented\u201d within the group, as they were when the C9 began. <\/p>\n
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg speaks to the Register on Jan. 7, 2026 during the extraordinary consistory with Pope Leo XIV.(Photo: Edward Pentin)<\/p>\n
As for this week\u2019s consistory, the Jesuit cardinal, who through various appointments wielded significant influence during the last pontificate, said: \u201cFirst we should listen to each other, give small opinions, and then it\u2019s for the Pope to decide.\u201d The Pope, Cardinal Hollerich said, \u201cis a man who listens, he is a man of reflection, who thinks a lot and listens a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cardinal Leo said he thought the consistory was a \u201cbeautiful gesture,\u201d adding that the Pope\u2019s \u201cpriority for peace and unity, which we pray for every day at Mass, is important and central to his ministry and I think should also be for ours.\u201d <\/p>\n
The cardinals are being split into working groups for each session, at the end of which they will report back to moderators who include Cardinal Jos\u00e9 Tolentino de Mendon\u00e7a, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. <\/p>\n
Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, who delivered daily meditations during the Synods on Synodality, provided the opening meditation this afternoon.<\/p>\n
Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon said he expected the focus of discussions will be on the Gospel, the liturgy and the \u201ccontinuation of the synod, among other things.\u201d He said he was not sure what the cardinals themselves are proposing as they are being divided into groups. \u201cMy main concern will be about peace in the world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon speaks to the Register on the sidelines of the extraordinary consistory with Pope Leo XIV on Jan. 7, 2025.(Photo: Edward Pentin)<\/p>\n
On the proposed rereading of Francis\u2019 documents Evangelii Gaudium and Praedicate Evangelium \u2014 topics also on the agenda \u2014 the Burmese cardinal said \u201cwe want to have a more practical line of action\u201d on these papal teachings. <\/p>\n
Asked by the Register if the topic of China and its relations with the Vatican would be a topic for discussion, Cardinal Bo said: \u201cMost probably no, not about China, but about general things.\u201d The cardinal, who has been publicly critical of Beijing in the past, said he himself would not be bringing up the issue \u2014 \u201cnot yet, not at this time,\u201d he replied. <\/p>\n
Asked about restrictions on the traditional Roman rite imposed after Traditionis Custodes, Cardinal Bo said he was \u201cindifferent\u201d to the subject as he does not celebrate the Tridentine rite Mass, although he remembered serving at it as a boy.<\/p>\n
Cardinal Hollerich told the Register that he thought the TLM issue would be discussed during the consistory. \u201cI\u2019m not against it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I do not like sometimes the values that are attached to it \u2014 no interreligious dialogue, not accepting the Second Vatican Council and so on. But the liturgy itself I think is no problem. If many people have access to God through that liturgy then that\u2019s fine with me.\u201d <\/p>\n
On being asked if he thought a new role for the cardinals might emerge from the consistory, Cardinal Leo responded: \u201cI don\u2019t know. The cardinals, as the senate of the Pope, are to be consulted, and Pope Francis and Pope Benedict before him consulted them in different ways. It is good that at the beginning, just a few months out, [Pope Leo] has convened all the cardinals. So I like this aspect of consulting, but it\u2019s up to the Holy Father to decide.\u201d <\/p>\n
Cardinal Leo said the Pope\u2019s \u201copenness to dialogue and to listening and consulting is a very beautiful thing. For any leader, whether inside or outside the Church, listening is something primordial.\u201d<\/p>\n
A persistent concern ahead of the last conclave was that the cardinals hardly knew one another, partly because Pope Francis held almost no consistories during his pontificate. <\/p>\n
Cardinal Leo, who has been a cardinal for just over a year, said he has already gotten to know some of his brother cardinals and hopes to know more over time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf God gives us health and years we can get to know one another better, work better together, and be consulted and be a support to the pontificate and to the Petrine ministry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Acest articol a fost publicat ini\u021bial de NCRegister.<\/p>\n