Pope Leo XIV closed the second Extraordinary Consistory of his pontificate on Saturday evening, June 27, with a wide-ranging address from the New Synod Hall at the Vatican, expressing gratitude for two days of shared work and delivering their unanimous appeal for peace that he asked the cardinals to carry to every corner of the Church.
Before turning to his closing reflections, the Pope paused to express solidarity with Venezuela, struck days earlier by two powerful earthquakes. “We assure our prayers for the victims, for their families, and for all those suffering the consequences of this tragedy,” he said, asking that “the solidarity of the international community toward that beloved nation may not falter.”
Turning to the consistory itself, the Pope said he carried away “not only the content of your reflections, but also the experience that made them possible.” Seeing cardinals from diverse Churches, cultures, languages, and situations listening to one another and seeking together what best serves the Gospel had been, he said, “a source of consolation and hope.”
War and the wounds beneath it
The cardinals’ shared concern for wars, poverty, injustice, and violence around the world ran through the two days of discussions. But Leo drew attention to what lies beneath these visible wounds: “loneliness, the crisis of relationships, the loss of hope, and the difficulty of recognizing one another as brothers and sisters.” He said he was particularly struck by what the cardinals had shared about young people — including those whose suffering leads, in some cases, to “the extreme despair of taking their own lives.”
“You have recognized one of the deepest wounds of our time,” he said, “yet you have also been able to recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in their search for authenticity, for genuine relationships, and for meaning.”
On war specifically, Leo endorsed one of the central insights of his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas: that conflict does not arise only from disputes between states, but from a “culture of power” that permeates human relationships, economics, politics, technology, and even religion. In response, he proposed rebuilding a culture of cooperation and dialogue, strengthening multilateralism, and promoting the participation of laypeople in public life shaped by the Church’s social doctrine. He also defended non-violent response as “a profoundly evangelical option,” clarifying that it means not passivity but confronting conflicts without reproducing the logic of hatred. Several working groups, he noted, had requested deeper theological and pastoral reflection on legitimate defense in light of changes affecting contemporary conflicts.
Synodality: A question of gift, not power
At the heart of his address, Leo returned to synodality — and reframed the debate that has accompanied the format of both this consistory and its predecessor in January. Aware that some cardinals retain reservations about the working-group structure and about synodality more broadly, he offered a clarification that went to the root of the question. “The real question of synodality is not who has the power to decide,” he said. “The question runs deeper: ‘How do we together safeguard the gift that the Lord has entrusted to his Church?’”
Quoting Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the Synod Secretariat, the Pope affirmed that 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.” He asked the cardinals to foster its authentic implementation in their particular Churches.
He also announced a meeting in October with the leaders of the Eastern Churches and the presidents of episcopal conferences to evaluate the reception of Amoris Laetitia on its 10th anniversary, in which families will also take part. He reiterated his intention to hold these extraordinary consistories annually, and said he would announce the date of the next one — to be held in 2027 — before the end of the year.
A final appeal
Leo closed by fully adopting as his own the unanimous appeal that emerged from the consistory, and invited every cardinal to carry it to their Churches and peoples.
“God desires peace for every nation and every people,” he said. “We must not resign ourselves to violence. Violence will not have the last word. God continues to open paths of reconciliation and peace throughout history. We have a responsibility to walk these paths with courage and to help the world recognize them.”
He then intoned the Te Deum, which the cardinals sang together, before hosting a dinner for the full College at the Vatican. On Monday, June 29, Leo XIV will preside at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, and impose the Pallia on the new metropolitan archbishops.
