by Jean-Marie Guénois
Unlike his predecessor, who distanced himself from the Roman Curia, the pope has decided to convene all of his cardinals each year to reflect on the strategic direction of the Church.
Leo XIV launched a velvet revolution at the Vatican this week. He casuallysummoned his 245 cardinals for two short days of work on Wednesday and Thursday, which could be the matrix for a new vision of the governance of the Catholic Church. Officially, four issues were on the agenda for this consistory: evangelization, the synod, the Roman Curia, and the liturgy. The pope had even recommended that the men in red prepare carefully, as he was awaiting the opinion of the Church Senate before making any decisions.
In the end, only the first two issues were discussed, but over the course of several hours, the 170 cardinals present came to understand that what mattered most was not so much the conclusions of their conversations—no summary text was published—as the opportunity to get to know one another, pray, and reflect together in the presence of the pope.
The latter, they assured, intends to cultivate “collegiality” among these princes of the Church. This would be one of his first reforms, discreet but essential, demonstrating that he does not want to lead the Church alone, or almost alone, as his predecessor did. The cardinals were therefore divided into about twenty groups at as many round tables, according to the “synodal method.” This ritual was very different from the previous one, where they gathered in an amphitheater, listened to a few speakers, and had limited speaking time.
Turning a decisive page
Although some of them, who had traveled from far away, wondered upon arrival what could come of such a short meeting with such a busy agenda, on Thursday evening they unanimously welcomed Leo XIV's formal invitation to meet again in June 2026, and thereafter once a year, for a four-day working session.
All remembered their unanimous request, expressed after the death of Francis and before electing Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, to no longer accept a pope who would govern without his cardinals. In twelve years of pontificate, the Argentine pope, despite being a champion of “synodality” (collective decision-making in the Church), had in fact only gathered his cardinals once for a similar session. Eight months after his election, the American pope has just turned a decisive page.
However, steering the Catholic Church is no easy task. Since his election, Leo XIV has strived to calm the ecclesiastical waters, which have been somewhat turbulent following the colorful years of Pope Francis. Nevertheless, the challenge of governing 1.4 billion Catholics in every country on the planet, 630,000 nuns, 406,996 priests, 5,430 bishops, and 245 cardinals—the latter being his inner circle of power, fellow cardinals of whom he was still a discreet member until recently—remains intact.
On the first day of discussions, Leo XIV did not hide his personal need for advice. “I feel, I experience the need to be able to count on you,” he told them. And he clearly sought their assistance in leading. “It is important that we work together, that we discern together, that we seek what the Spirit is asking of us.” Without ever forgetting that “the raison d'être of the Church is not for cardinals, bishops, and clergy; the raison d'être of the Church is the proclamation of the Gospel.” An immense task from a human perspective, but “if we put our trust in the Lord, in his presence, we can do so much,” assured the head of the Catholic Church.
An issue “on the agenda”
In three half-day sessions, however, the cardinals could not accomplish much. Hence the surprise vote imposed on them at the beginning of the session to choose two themes from the four proposed by Leo XIV himself: missionary proclamation, reform of the Curia, synod, and liturgy. By a “large majority,” the wise men opted for missionary proclamation and the synod.
Leo XIV took note of this, but, aware of the misunderstanding that this reduction in the ambition of the consistory could cause in circles sensitive to liturgical issues, the new pope immediately sought to reassure them: “The other two themes are not lost; they are very concrete, specific issues that we still need to examine.” For his part, Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, assured that the fact that the ‘liturgy’ dossier was not being studied as such did not in any way mean that it was “excluded” from the reflections: “Liturgy will appear in particular in the reflection on mission, or in some other way.”
This issue is high on the Pope's agenda. It is one of his priorities, as evidenced by the letter of convocation for this consistory, which he signed on December 12. In recent months, Leo XIV has consulted with prominent figures and theological experts in liturgy.
The issue is more important than it seems. It concerns whether or not to challenge Francis' decision, taken in 2024, to repeal the possibility of celebrating Mass according to the Tridentine rite—commonly known as the Latin Mass—on an “extraordinary” basis, as authorized by Benedict XVI in 2007. It is a “very complicated” issue, acknowledged Leo XIV in his only public statement on the subject, an interview he gave in the summer of 2025 to journalist Elise Ann Allen for her biographical book [In French: Léon XIV, Éditions du Rocher/Artège].
He emphasized that the issue was “on the agenda,” but acknowledged that he “did not know” where this work “would lead us,” particularly because of the “polarization process” of the liturgy, which has become “a political issue” and even a “pretext for promoting other causes.” He wanted to use a “synodal method” to resolve it, because “the subject is so polarized that people are often reluctant to listen to each other.” “This means,” he concluded, “that we are now in the realm of ideology, we are no longer in the experience of the communion of the Church.”
Change of heart
However, if this issue was so important, why did the cardinals not address it this week? Two explanations were circulating in Rome. One was linked to the annoyance of some at pressure groups favoring the Tridentine liturgy, who were very active on social media and suggested that this consistory would be devoted primarily to this liturgical question.
It was also pointed out on Thursday in the Vatican that this subject concerned primarily France, the United States, and a few other countries, and that from a geo-ecclesial point of view, it was not of general interest. Even if, in the Pope's mind, the fundamental issue is to restore the sense of the sacred in all Catholic liturgical acts, as he himself exemplifies.
The mood has changed significantly since his arrival. While the liturgical issue continues to divide the cardinals, as this vote showed, many of them, and many bishops with them, believe that the rules established by Francis to curb the traditionalist phenomenon in the dioceses would benefit from being relaxed. When questioned by the press on Wednesday on the sidelines of the meeting, Luxembourg's Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, a Jesuit who was very close to Pope Francis and therefore unlikely to be accused of condescension toward the traditionalist world, acknowledged: “I can certainly imagine a future with more flexibility for the Tridentine Mass.”
However, after this brief consistory, no one knows which direction Leo XIV will take. The pope is very concerned with restoring unity to the Catholic Church, so the question of the Tridentine rite has not been forgotten, as some in traditionalist circles have claimed after this vote.
By setting aside the question of liturgy while insisting on the synodal method, the hallmark of Francis' pontificate, Leo XIV could lay himself open to criticism from his predecessor's detractors. But his synodal vision is not that of the Argentine pope, even if it draws on the same desire to reduce ecclesial and clerical sclerosis. The synodal movement under Francis aimed to introduce more democracy and decentralization, notably by granting significant powers to the laity, including the power to control decisions made by bishops, which was not unanimously supported at the two synods on synodality in 2023 and 2024.
Final decision reserved for bishops and cardinals
However, former Cardinal Prevost, who participated in both synods, was among the prelates who defended the synodal path on condition that the bishop's prerogatives under canon law be maintained. He was even a member of the small working group on the specific issue of the compatibility of episcopal responsibility with synodality.
By deciding to hold annual consistories of cardinals—who are first and foremost bishops—Leo XIV certainly retained the synodal method introduced by his predecessor and his requirement for collective work, but he reserved the final decision, and therefore the power, for the bishops and cardinals. This was not a step backwards but a refocusing on the legal constitution of the Catholic Church, reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council, which revalued the position of the bishop by placing him in the rank of apostle of Christ.
“We are not here to promote ‘agendas’—personal or collective—but to entrust our plans and inspirations to the discernment that is beyond us (...) and that can only come from the Lord,” explained Pope Leo XIV during Mass celebrated on January 8, 2026, at St. Peter's Basilica. This whole process must be lived “above all in prayer and silence.” But holding this meeting is “a very significant, prophetic gesture, especially in the context of the frenetic society in which we live,” he insisted.
As a disciple of St. Augustine, he recalled “the importance, in every journey of life, of stopping to pray, listen, reflect, and thus refocus our gaze more and more on the goal, directing all our efforts and resources toward it, so as not to risk running blindly or wasting our energy unnecessarily.”
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