The extraordinary consistories of cardinals will cease to be extraordinary, and will be periodic consultative meetings or gatherings. This follows from the information offered last night by the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, coming from the Pope himself. Leo XIV wishes to hold “a meeting similar” to the one that took place on January 7 and 8, in which 170 cardinals participated out of the total of 245 of the College of Cardinals, including electors and non-electors who have already reached the age of 80.
Around St. Peter and St. Paul
In response to questions from journalists, Matteo Bruni said at the press conference, which was delayed by more than half an hour, that the data are “a meeting similar to this one”, of two days, and in the proximity of the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, on June 29. With this date, it seems that this meeting, or consistory, could be held on the weekend of June 26-28.
In addition, the Pontiff plans to convene an annual meeting or consistory, this time lasting 3 or 4 days. Although some journalists have insisted, the spokesman did not elaborate further. Vatican News, however, reports that the Pope himself has confirmed the Ecclesial Assembly of October 2028, announced last March.
Continuity with the path of Vatican II
The Pope is very grateful to the cardinals for their participation in this consistory, in particular “to the older ones,” according to Bruni, and has expressed his closeness to those who could not come to Rome.
As Omnes has been reporting, Leo XIV referred to the continuity with the path of the Second Vatican Council, and “synodality is an important part of this path”.
Three cardinals participated in the briefing: Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Johannesburg, Philippine Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, and Archbishop Luis José Rueda of Bogota. “We have worked in unity, which is not uniformity.”.
Cardinal Rueda said that the consistory is part of the process of continuing the missionary journey of the College of Cardinals, and “the Pope intends to continue to summon us”. He also highlighted some of the Pope's ideas in his homily at Mass on the 8th. We are not a group of experts, but “a community of faith”, and “we come to walk together as missionary disciples, with humility”.
“A great act of love”
At the morning Mass, the Holy Father said that our “pausing” (in the work of the Consistory) is “above all, a great act of love - for God, for the Church and for men and women throughout the world - with which we allow ourselves to be molded by the Spirit, first in prayer and silence, but also by looking each other in the eye, listening to one another and making ourselves heard, through the sharing of all those whom the Lord has entrusted to our care as pastors, in the most diverse parts of the world”.
