“Genius” of Francis and Vatican II: A cardinal wonders what might have been

We recently celebrated the anniversary of the canonization of two popes of our time: John Paul II and John XXIII. Both of them are among the handful of saints who have unique feast days -- that is, feasts that are not the day of their death (and birth to eternity). For John Paul II, his October 22 feast marks the day of his election as Successor of Peter. And for John XXIII, his feast (also in October, the 11th) is the date he opened the Second Vatican Council.

In December of 2025, we marked the 60th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II, falling within Pope Leo's first year as pope. After Leo finished up the general audience series begun by Francis for the Jubilee, Leo turned his attention right away to reflections on the documents of Vatican II, calling the faithful to read (or re-read) them. And he has been dedicating the Wednesday general audiences to this theme since the beginning of 2026. This week he started on what is perhaps the most historic of the documents, the one dealing with the liturgy.

Certainly, Vatican II continues to be the most momentous event in the Church of modern times, as these anniversaries give us cause to remember. The Council brought together the world's bishops in Rome for four sessions between October 11, 1962, and December 8, 1965, and was a turning point for the Catholic Church, particularly in its relations with the tumultuous modern world.

But one might say -- and Pope Francis did say -- that the 60 years that have passed since the Council feel like just a beginning in terms of unpacking and implementing all that happened in those three intense years.

Ohio-born Cardinal Seán O'Malley made his first vows as a 21-year-old Capuchin in July of 1965, two months before the bishops were called to Rome for the fourth and final session of the Council. His religious and priestly life have thus developed in parallel with the closing of the Council and its implementation.

The 81-year-old has spent the last 60 years serving the Church in some incredibly tough missions, notably as archbishop of Boston after the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, and then working closely beside Pope Francis for more than 10 years as the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

In preparation for the inaugural issue of Aleteia Magazine, an interesting, informative -- and beautiful! -- look back at Pope Leo's first year, we chatted with Cardinal O'Malley. Our conversation turned to Vatican II and, what might come as a surprise to some, its relation to Pope Francis' push for "synodality."

Cardinal O'Malley called "synodality" the genius of Pope Francis and, "having lived through" the era following the Council, he said: "If we would have had that kind of approach to the implementation of Vatican II, I think it could have happened much smoother." 

What does he mean?

The cardinal acknowledged that synodality has been misunderstood in some circles, and in certain erroneous applications.

But, he suggested, a synodal approach could have made a difference in the 60s and the decades that followed.

If that would have been done, reflected the cardinal, "I think that could have obviated a lot of pain and suffering and confusion that we experienced … having lived through it!"

Cardinal O'Malley went on to discuss a framework for discernment spelled out during the Synod on Synodality, called "Conversation in the Spirit." The method proposes a spiritual journey alternating moments of silence, prayer, and listening, with moments of dialogue and identification of the "steps" that the Spirit is calling us to take together.

The cardinal praised this approach.

"It was interesting because, the first time that I saw this was in the Synod on the Amazon," he explained, referencing the 2019 meetings on that troubled region of the world.

"The Holy Father had periods of silence, I don't know, every half hour or something. And that completely changed the ... the atmosphere. It wasn't this back and forth debate, but it was more, 'We're looking for God's will here, and we're trying to listen to what everybody says and discover the truth in that.'"

For Cardinal O'Malley, this synodal approach teaches listening -- both to other people, and to the Holy Spirit.

"I know [synodality] can be abused if you see this as the democratization of the Church, which is not what it's supposed to be," he said. Instead, he said, it should be seen as: "'We have to learn to listen and listen to the Holy Spirit,' and then, of course, use the gifts of the Church for governance."

The cardinal's reference is to the massive decline in religious vocations in the Global North, particularly for women religious, since the 1960s. In the United States, from about 180,000 in 1965 to about 50,000 in 2014, the number of women religious saw a 72% drop over those 50 years, a much more marked decrease even than the decrease in priests (which has had an approximate 35% decrease).

But when it comes to Pope Francis' vision of synodality, just as when it comes to Vatican II itself, conversations within the Church sometimes get heated.

Cardinal O'Malley, certainly no stranger to navigating difficult topics in the Church, shared some further impressions on that challenge: