Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’

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Pope Leo defends synodality, tells cardinals ‘I need your support: strong, explicit, and public’
Pope Leo XIV addressed some cardinals' apprehensions while meeting in Rome about a ‘synodal’ round-table format — a structure they felt 

was ‘very controlled’ when used at the first consistory in January, Vatican journalist Edward Pentin reported.



Pope Leo XIV
Burak Kara/Getty Images

Jun 27, 2026
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV opened his second extraordinary consistory of cardinals on Friday in which he insisted that the Lord is leading the Church via “synodality” so that she can “grow in communion,” according to a report by Vatican journalist Edward Pentin.

The Pontiff encouraged the 178 cardinals to “engage wholeheartedly” in a synodal, working group structure, adding that he was “well aware that, for many of us, this is not the usual way of conducting a consistory,” Pentin said in his EWTN News report.

“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,” Leo said in his opening remarks on Friday. “I need to feel sustained by you as brothers.”

“The pope’s comments came after some cardinals had expressed apprehensions about the consistory using a ‘synodal’ round-table format for a second time — a structure they felt was ‘very controlled’ when used at the first consistory last January, and left them with a sense that key decisions and framing had been set in advance,” Pentin noted.

The gathering in the Pope Paul VI Hall that began Friday and ends Saturday evening, will have focused on four themes, led by Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, archbishop of Kraków; Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Stephen Brislin, archbishop of Johannesburg; and Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops.

Notably, these four cardinals assigned to deliver the introductory addresses and meditations for the consistory sessions had been closely aligned with Pope Francis and have a record of supporting heterodox positions.

Earlier this week, the Italian blog Messainlatino characterized the organization of the consistory as the “synodalist ‘Bergoglio method’” whereby the cardinals are “divided into first‑class and second‑class tables,” with a “secretary‑spokesperson for each group, and extremely limited time for interventions in the assembly.”

“The organizational model of the upcoming consistory produces an appearance of broad participation and deliberative consensus, yet its structure significantly limits the conditions for genuine collective discernment,” LifeSiteNews’ Gaetano Masciullo wrote in advance of the Vatican gathering. “The fragmentation into small groups, each with strict time constraints and mediated through designated coordinators, shifts the center of gravity away from open, continuous debate in the full assembly toward pre-filtered and procedurally standardized exchanges.”

“In such a framework, the real content of discussion may be more easily condensed, selected, and reformulated before it reaches the plenary level, where only brief summaries are presented without being subject to full argumentation,” Musciullo said.

“These elements generate a procedural image of synodality – officially characterized by listening, participation, and shared discernment – while in practice they centralize control over framing, synthesis, and final reporting,” Musciullo said. “The result is a carefully managed consultative mechanism in which consensus is structurally pre-shaped rather than freely formed through open confrontation of positions.”