Don’t miss the full story, whose reporting from Nicole Winfield at The Associated Press is the basis of this artificial intelligence-assisted article.
Pope Leo XIV convened the world’s cardinals in Rome for his first consistory, where they advised him to prioritize making the church more missionary and responsive to lay Catholics while he separately announced plans to devote his weekly teachings to implementing Vatican II reforms.
Some key facts:
• Approximately 170 cardinals, representing two-thirds of the College of Cardinals, gathered at the Vatican for Leo’s first consistory, a two-day meeting to advise on papal priorities.
• The cardinals chose to focus on two main themes: the missionary nature of the church and making it more synodal or responsive to ordinary Catholics, showing continuity with the late Pope Francis’ agenda.
• The cardinals notably declined to prioritize discussions on liturgy and the divisive Latin Mass controversy, despite it being on the original four-item agenda.
• Leo announced he will devote his weekly catechism lessons to rereading and implementing Vatican II documents, the 1960s reforms that modernized the Catholic Church.
• The consistory began the day after Leo closed the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee, marking an unofficial launch of his own pontificate and agenda.
• Francis had relied on a hand-picked group of nine cardinals rather than the full College of Cardinals, leaving many cardinals feeling sidelined during his 12-year pontificate.
• Vatican II allowed vernacular languages instead of Latin at Mass, increased lay participation and revolutionized Catholic relations with Jews and other faiths.
• The reforms of Vatican II remain a source of division between traditionalist conservatives and progressive Catholics in the church today.
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