VATICAN CITY – On Friday morning, Pope Leo XIV opened a highly anticipated second two-day closed-door consistory of the College of Cardinals, using his opening address to deliver an uncompromising message of peace for a globe fractured by ongoing armed conflict, while also asking the body of church leaders for explicit public backing as he navigates both global tensions and internal church divisions. The gathering comes directly in response to calls from cardinals for more frequent consultation than they received during Pope Francis’ 12-year tenure, a pontificate marked by more centralized, solo governance from the papacy.
The College of Cardinals, often called the red-capped “princes of the Church,” carries two core constitutional responsibilities in the global Catholic Church: providing counsel to a sitting pope and convening to elect a new pontiff following a pope’s death or resignation. This latest meeting marks the second consistory held since the first session in January, with Pope Leo – the first American to hold the papacy – calling the college back to Rome to tackle a tightly focused agenda.
Three key topics were placed on the final agenda for the closed-door talks: an assessment of the current volatile global political landscape, discussion of Pope Leo’s recent encyclical focused on artificial intelligence, and efforts to restructure church engagement to better center the needs of everyday Catholic faithful around the world. Notably, plans to discuss ongoing rifts over the celebration of the traditional Latin Mass – a longstanding flashpoint for division in the global church – were pulled from the agenda. The decision comes as a showdown over the issue looms next week, when a breakaway faction of traditionalist Catholic leaders is set to consecrate four new bishops in open defiance of Pope Leo’s explicit instructions.
In his opening remarks to the gathered cardinals, Pope Leo made a direct appeal for unity, telling the body: “I need your strong, explicit and public support. I need to feel myself supported by you as brothers.” Church communications rules have barred participating cardinals from speaking to media during the gathering in Rome; only the pope’s opening and closing addresses will be released to the public.
Speaking earlier at an opening Mass for the consistory, the pontiff anchored his anti-war message in core Catholic teaching on human dignity, framing war as a moral failure that contradicts the gifts God granted to humanity. “Therefore, war is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God,” he said. “Because, even if we are equipped with high-tech weapons, the Creator has endowed us with intelligence and free will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts.”
This anti-war stance is consistent with messaging Pope Leo has pushed throughout the early days of his pontificate. He has repeatedly called for peace amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and rising U.S.-Iran tensions, a position that has at times drawn public criticism and pushback from U.S. President Donald Trump.
This report, from the Associated Press, forms part of AP’s religion coverage, produced in partnership with The Conversation US and with funding support from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP retains full editorial responsibility for all content.