With 170 red hats present in Vatican City, the extraordinary consistory of cardinals started on 7 January at 3.30pm Rome time with Veni Creator Spiritus sounding in the Synod Hall inside the Vatican City walls. They later moved to round tables in the Paul VI Audience Hall, where the cardinals held group discussions.

In opening remarks, Pope Leo XIV met the cardinals with one crucial message: ‘I am here to listen.’

‘As we learnt during the two assemblies of the Synod of Bishops of 2023 and 2024, the synodal dynamic implies a listening par excellence,’ the Pope told the cardinals. ‘Every moment of this kind is an opportunity to deepen our shared appreciation for synodality.’

This day and a half together will point the way for our path ahead.

Calling the meeting ‘highly significant’, and voicing expectations that the gathering will be one of the defining moments of his papacy, the Pope said, ‘This day and a half together will point the way for our path ahead. We must not arrive at a text but continue a conversation that will help me in serving the mission of the entire Church.’

The Pope told the cardinals that while they ‘are a very diverse group, enriched by a wide range of backgrounds’, they are still ‘called first to get to know one another and to dialogue, so that we may work together in serving the Church. I hope that we can grow in communion and thus offer a model of collegiality.’

Urging unity, one of the main themes of his pontificate, Pope Leo told the gathering that ‘While unity attracts, division scatters,’ therefore ‘in order to be a truly missionary Church, one that is capable of witnessing to the attractive power of Christ’s love, we must first of all put into practice his commandment, the only one he gave us after washing his disciples’ feet: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”’

This is our first obedience, to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times.

At the opening of the meeting, a meditation from British Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe reminded the cardinals ‘of not leaving the successor of Peter alone as he faces the storms of the world’.

‘Jesus commanded the disciples to get into the boat and go before him. Peter must not go into the storm alone,’ Cardinal Radcliffe told the cardinals. ‘This is our first obedience, to be in the barque of Peter, with his successor, as he faces the storms of our times. We cannot remain on the beach saying, “Myself, I would not go sailing today” or “I would choose a different boat.” Jesus is alone on the mountain, but Peter must not be unaccompanied.’