Extraordinary Consistory (26-27 June 2026)
Address of His Holiness Leo XIV at the conclusion
of the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals
New Synod Hall – Saturday, 27 June 2026
“All things come from The Lord and return to Him”
Dear Brother Cardinals,
We now come to the end of these days with a deep sense of gratitude
Thank you for your freedom, fraternity, and ecclesial awareness in participating in our work.
I will take with me not only the content of your reflections but also the experience that made them possible.
During this time, we sought the Lord’s will together, convinced that Christ continues to work in his Church. He precedes us, gathers us, speaks through our brothers and sisters, and leads us on our mission.
All things come from The Lord and return to Him.
For this reason, seeing cardinals from different churches, cultures, and situations listen to each other and work together to serve the Gospel has been a source of consolation and hope for me.
These days, we began by letting the image of the Good Samaritan guide us.
He was a man who stopped to help his wounded neighbor, was moved to action, and took care of him.
Now, I would like to conclude with another Gospel icon: the disciples of Emmaus.
They too walked, having been marked by sadness and disappointment, but the Lord became their companion on the way, listened to their questions, opened the Scriptures, made their hearts burn and transformed their journey.
I like to think that our experience these past few days has been similar.
We walked together, listened to each other, and if we left room for the Lord, he kindled hope in our hearts once again.
The Lord sends us back to our churches to resume our journey with a new perspective.
The concluding reflection on the synodal journey helped us to reread our experiences during these past few days.
It seems to me that the question of synodality is not primarily:
“Who has the power to decide?”.
The question of solidarity is more profound:
“How do we guard together the gift the Lord has entrusted to his Church?”.
When this question becomes the center of our discernment, questions of authority, co-responsibility and decision-making also find their rightful place, illuminated by our shared mission and fidelity to the Gospel.
Thus, I would like to entrust the implementation of the Synod to you once again.
I ask you to accompany him with conviction in the churches you serve, fostering an authentic understanding of the synod and encouraging everyone to participate.
It is a matter of helping our churches grow in an increasingly evangelical manner.
As Cardinal Grech has said, I recommend that we understand that synodality is not just a set of meetings or a method of work.
Rather, it is a spiritual style.
It is born of encounter, grows through listening, and matures through discernment.
The real question is not how many conversations we can organize, but rather, what evangelical quality our meetings will have.
When we listen to each other with humility and freedom, leaving room for the Spirit, our conversations become a place of conversion where we grow together in our fidelity to the Lord, rather than remaining an exchange of ideas.
In the first session you contemplated the world.
Reflecting on our recent conversations, I will always remember the way you looked at the world during the first session.
Many of you have recounted the suffering caused by wars, violence, poverty and the many injustices that affect people’s lives.
However, you did not dwell on them.
Behind these tragedies, you recognized an even deeper suffering: loneliness, the crisis of relationships, the loss of hope, and the difficulty of recognizing one another as brothers and sisters.
Your gaze does not avert its eyes from the world’s wounds, but rather seeks to understand their roots.
Often hidden within these wounds is a renewed demand for meaning, authenticity, spirituality, and community.
Many today are looking for hope and authentic relationships.
I was particularly impressed by the way you spoke about young people.
Through their questions and the suffering that sometimes leads them to despair—and even to take their own lives—you have recognized one of the deepest wounds of our time.
However, you have also recognized the action of the Spirit in it.
Their search for authenticity, meaningful relationships, and purpose reminds us that the Gospel continues to fulfill the deepest desires of the human heart.
Listening to them and their families humbly is also a way the Lord continues to convert the Church.
Many of you have also remembered the family.
A school of relationships, solidarity, and hope grows where the family is supported and accompanied.
Where it is wounded or isolated, the whole of society bears the consequences.
In October, we will hold a meeting with the heads of the Eastern Churches and the presidents of the bishops’ conferences to evaluate the steps taken since Amoris Laetitia was released.
Some families who will share their experiences will also participate.
Their presence is essential, and I hope all participants will prepare by listening closely and sharing the experiences of their church communities.
Thus, you have sought to listen to what the world’s wounds reveal about the human heart.
Peace is also decided there, in the heart.
Before manifesting itself in history, war is born within us when suspicion replaces trust, fear replaces hope, and we perceive others as threats.
However, it is in the same heart that Christ continues to meet us, speak to us, and convert us.
A reconciled heart can give rise to unarmed words, new relationships, and a peace capable of reaching peoples as well.
The second session took us a step further.
It seems to me that you have clearly grasped one of the intuitions of the magnificent humanitas: war is not merely a conflict between states.
Rather, it stems from an earlier culture of power that permeates our way of thinking, living, exercising power, using the economy, technology, and even religion.
If this is the root of the crisis, then the solution requires rebuilding a culture of cooperation and dialogue capable of reinvigorating multilateralism so that people can learn to seek the common good of the entire human family together again.
The contribution of laypeople involved in public life is essential on this journey.
They need the closeness and support of the ecclesial community to live the “political charity” you mentioned.
This same culture of cooperation grows through ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
This dialogue strengthens our Christian identity and enables it to serve the common good and peace.
I also found the way some of you addressed the theme of nonviolent responses to violence particularly valuable.
This approach is profoundly evangelical, the fruit of contemplating Jesus’ way of acting. It does not involve renouncing conflict or adopting a passive attitude. Rather, it means facing conflict without reproducing its logic.
It does not renounce truth or remain silent about evil; rather, it refuses to defend evil with violence or to turn others into enemies.
It begins by disarming oneself.
This reveals the logic of Easter, where love is stronger than hatred, and forgiveness breaks the cycle of revenge.
This is the strength of the crucified and risen one—a strength that does not destroy the enemy but rather makes it possible to find a brother or sister.
From this perspective, several groups have emphasized the opportunity to further explore the theme of legitimate defense in light of profound changes in the nature of contemporary conflicts.
This topic deserves further development with the necessary theological and pastoral rigor
I also welcomed your emphasis on the Social Doctrine of the Church with particular interest.
You expressed the desire for it to become the living heritage of our communities and an ordinary criterion for forming consciences and discerning pastoral actions.
Rather than offering pre-established solutions, it educates the Church in an evangelical way of living, interpreting, and responsibly directing action.
I was also struck by another convergence.
Many of you have noted that the common good is not merely an objective to be pursued, but rather a reality to be rediscovered together.
We live in a time when it is difficult to even recognize what is truly good for everyone. For this reason, the Church, rooted in Christ, is called to safeguard places of encounter, listening, and dialogue, where a renewed culture of the common good can flourish.
This requires patient educational work that helps us recognize the inviolable dignity of every person and our responsibility to one another.
On this journey, the poor are not only recipients of our care but also protagonists of the hope that God continues to awaken in history.
Another conviction has also emerged strongly from many of your reflections.
As we asked ourselves about the Church’s responsibilities in today’s world, you continually emphasized the importance of bearing witness, being close to people, forming consciences, and building fraternal and credible communities.
This witness stems from encountering Christ, his Word, and the sacraments.
In these encounters, the Lord sustains his people and enables them to serve the world with the power of the Gospel.
The Church is called to become more and more what she proclaims.
It is on this basis that reforms to structures, institutions, and processes can bear fruit.
Thus, these days strengthen my hope.
It’s not just because of what we shared, but also because of how we did it.
In a time marked by polarization, the way the Church listens and engages in dialogue also becomes part of her proclamation.
If we continue to seek the Lord’s will together and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, I am certain our communion will become increasingly fruitful for the Church’s mission and the service of the entire human family.
I believe that we are gradually rediscovering the most authentic meaning of the consistory: the gathering of the College of Cardinals around the successor of Peter. Through mutual listening and shared discernment, the Holy Spirit helps the pope guide the church.
It is not a parliament or a congress in which opinions or interests prevail, but rather an experience of communion at the service of the mission.
What we learn to live in these days concerns not only the College of Cardinals.
It is a style we are called to promote throughout the Church so that every baptized person may participate in building the civilization of love and serving the common good according to their vocation and responsibility.
As I have mentioned, I would like to continue this annual meeting starting next year.
I have not yet set the date and plan to communicate it to you towards the end of this year.
This consistory was a precious moment, but it must not remain an isolated event. Throughout the Church, we aim to create spaces where the People of God can listen to one another, pray, discern, and journey together.
This is the essence of the Synod’s implementation process.
It will also be the spirit of the next meeting dedicated to Amoris Laetitia, as well as many other initiatives the Lord asks of us.
The important thing is not to multiply encounters, but to learn to have encounters in which, by listening to one another, we learn to listen to the Lord together.
Before concluding, I would like to accept the unanimous appeal that arose from this consistory and make it my own.
Indeed, I would like us to do so together through these words.
Let us say it to our brother bishops, to the churches entrusted to our ministry, and to all the peoples of the earth. God desires peace for every nation and people.
This is why 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 those paths courageously and help the world recognize them.
Brothers,
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your contribution, as well as the speakers, moderators, and everyone who generously and discreetly made these days of work and fellowship possible.
Thank you for helping me recognize, once again, the work that Christ continues to do among his people and in the world.
Let us entrust the fruits of this consistory to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church.
May she teach us to preserve unity in diversity and serve the Gospel of peace with humility, courage, and hope. Thank you!
