In Church reform, “we are not hasty and superficial: we dig deep, free from the criteria of the world, which often demands immediate results, not knowing the wisdom of waiting”. They are indications that trace the line he wants to give to his pontificate, coming from Pope Leo who celebrated a special mass this morning at St. Mary’s. John Lateran, the “mother” and “head” of all churches and who also provides the key to understanding the next great appointment proclaimed by Leo.
At the end of the first six months of the pontificate and when the end of the Jubilee was in sight, set for January 6 with the ceremony of closing the Holy Door, Leo convened an extraordinary meeting of all the cardinals on January 7 and 8.
In fact, his first consistory: the consistory he presided over on June 13, was actually just a formality to set the date for the canonization of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis which would be rescheduled after Francis’ death.
The meeting will take place the day after the end of the Holy Year, almost a turning of the page compared to the year that had been planned before his election, including a trip to Turkey with a stop in Nicaea on the 1700th anniversary of the Council, which had been on Pope Francis’ agenda.
The details that Prevost wants to resolve with the summons of the 245 cardinals are not yet known in detail, including the cardinal who took a step back from the conclave to undergo a second level trial against him, the former prefect of the Dicastery of Saints, Angelo Becciu. But Leone certainly intends to consider the challenges, problems and exigencies of the Church together with his fellow cardinals in a meeting that seems to be placed on a par with synodal meetings, as if establishing a dual track of collegiality and shared responsibility in Church leadership.
If on the one hand, in reality, Pope Prevost intends to continue the reforms carried out by Francis, especially the reform of the synodal church as he also said this morning, (“it requires an uphill journey, but we must not lose heart”), on the other hand, symbolically from the seat of primacy for Christians in the Lateran basilica, he warns against “haste and shallowness” inviting us to accept that in the “workshop” of the ecclesiastical community there are also “stops, crises and correction” without losing the “momentum” of renewal.
Therefore, this consistory will be the first real moment of discussion between the cardinals who elected him in the conclave to raise important themes together in the name of the main motive of unity. In no small detail, the Pope, who authorized the resumption of the Latin mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, this morning also warned against practicing a “conscious” liturgy that takes into account different “sensitivities” in the name of “wise inculturation”.
Meanwhile at the Angelus, after expressing his closeness to the Filipino people hit by the devastating typhoon, he again called for a “ceasefire” in all war zones: “If we truly want to honor the dead, often sick civilian parents and children, we must engage in real negotiations” for peace.
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