“I feel the need to be able to count on you: it is you who have called this servant to this mission. Therefore, I believe it is important that we work together, that we discern together, that we seek what the Spirit is asking of us.” At the conclusion of the first day of the Extraordinary Consistory he convened in the Vatican, Leo XIV once again asked the 170 cardinals present for their support and assistance.

Synodality and mission in the light of Evangelii gaudium were chosen “by a clear majority,” from a list that also included the liturgy and the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium.

Pope Leo did not take part directly in the group discussions, but participated in the plenary session in which the nine secretaries of the tables—composed of cardinals from outside the Roman Curia—presented their work and explained, within a maximum of three minutes, the reasons for choosing the two themes. As Pope Leo explained, members of the Roman Curia are easier to consult.

“One theme cannot be separated from the other”

At the conclusion of the session, the Pontiff—after listening and taking notes—spoke again to thank the cardinals “for all the work already carried out in this first session” and for the choice made by all the tables, “by a large majority.” He stressed that “one theme cannot be separated from the other.”

“There is much that we can examine together,” Pope Leo said, “but we want to be a Church that does not look only at itself, that is missionary, that looks further ahead, toward others.”

The Church’s “reason for being,” the Pope affirmed, “is not for cardinals, nor for bishops, nor for the clergy,” but rather “to proclaim the Gospel.” For this reason, he expressed gratitude for the choice of the two themes.

The Synod and synodality, he said, express the search for how to be a missionary Church in today’s world, while Evangelii gaudium calls the Church to “proclaim the kerygma, the Gospel, with Christ at the center.” “This is our mission,” the Pope said.

“The other themes are not lost,” he added. “There are very concrete, specific issues that we still need to address.” He also expressed the hope that each cardinal would “truly feel free” to communicate with him or with others as part of an ongoing “process of dialogue and discernment.”

The journey is as important as the result

In his brief greeting, the Pope cited the words of one of the secretaries, who observed that “the journey was just as important as the conclusion of the work at the table.” This experience of collegiality, Pope Leo said, is what he hopes will be a fruit of the Consistory.

It is an experience that “offers the Church and the world a witness” to the desire to be together and to recognize the value of making the sacrifice of travel—“for some of you, a very long one”—in order to seek together what the Holy Spirit wants for the Church today and tomorrow.

The time of the meeting is “very brief,” Leo acknowledged, but it is “a very important time also for me.” Once again, he reiterated the importance of working together, discerning together, and seeking what the Spirit is asking of the Church.

“Is there life in our Church?”

In his concluding address, the Pope returned to passages from his homily the previous day during the Mass for the Solemnity of the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica, following the closing of the Holy Door. In particular, he repeated the question: “Let us ask ourselves: is there life in our Church?”

“I am convinced that there is,” the Bishop of Rome said. “These months—if I had not experienced it before—I have had countless beautiful experiences of the life of the Church. And yet the question remains: is there life in our Church? Is there space for what is being born? Do we love and proclaim a God who sets us back on the journey?”

There is indeed a journey still to be made, the Pope said, and one cannot take refuge in the idea that “everything is already done, finished—do as we have always done.” The Consistory therefore serves to help the Church walk together.

Recalling another passage from his homily, and citing King Herod, Leo said that “fear blinds,” while the Gospel “sets us free,” making us “prudent,” but also “bold, attentive, and creative,” and opening “paths different from those already taken.”

For Pope Leo XIV, the Consistory is thus “one of the many expressions through which we can truly experience the Church’s newness.” “The Holy Spirit is alive and present also among us,” he said. “How beautiful it is to find ourselves together in the boat!”