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By Devin Watkins

“I need your freedom, your frankness, and your loyalty. Sincere counsel is always an act of communion.”

Pope Leo XIV opened the Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals on Friday with that invitation to his brother Cardinals.

Held in the Paul VI Hall, the Consistory will last until Saturday evening and offers the Cardinals an opportunity to discern together with the Pope.

The Holy Father renewed his desire expressed in January that these encounters may help the Cardinals and the Pope learn better how to “work together in the service of the Church” and continue “a conversation that helps me in the service of the mission and of the whole Church.”

Communion, said the Pope, is never achieved once and for all, but requires daily conversion, prayer, trusting relationships, and a willingness to listen to one another.

Pope Leo reminded the Cardinals of his invitations in recent months to build communion in the Church through synodality, with each member cooperating in her mission according to their own charism and ministry.

He then reflected on the four themes on which the Cardinals will focus during these two days.

First, they will reflect on the world in which the Church is called to proclaim the Gospel. This situational awareness will help them to recognize Jesus who walks in the streets of the world and goes before us in history.

Second, the Cardinals will examine the implications of the culture of power and the civilization of love.

Many of them come from lands marked by war, he noted, recalling however that none is untouched by the many forms of conflict, domination, and division that course through societies everywhere.

The Pope invited the Cardinals to take his encyclical Magnifica humanitas as a key to understanding their own local Churches.

In the third session, they will focus on examining what contribution the Church can make to the common good of humanity.

“The Church’s social doctrine reminds us that the common good does not arise spontaneously, but requires shared responsibility,” said the Pope. “For the Church, this takes on a very precise form: a synodal style at the service of the mission of the Kingdom.”

In the fourth session, the Cardinals will reflect on the continued implementation of the Synod on Synodality.

Pope Leo said this final session will gather the reflections of the previous three under the lens of synodality as an “attitude, an openness, and a willingness to understand.”

Rather than focusing on the internal life of the Church, the Pope invited the Cardinals to gaze upon the world and ask a single question: “How can we help our Churches today to proclaim the Gospel with greater fidelity, freedom, and credibility?

Mission, he noted, is not one of many tasks for the Church but her reason for existing, which thus requires the Cardinals to listen, bear their responsibilities, and discern the actions of the Holy Spirit together.

Pope Leo XIV concluded his opening address at the Extraordinary Consistory by thanking the Cardinals for their help.

“I count on you to help me discern what the Spirit is saying to the Church today. I need your support: strong, explicit, and public,” he said. “I need to feel sustained by you as brothers.”