Cardinals who spoke to the Register as they entered the consistory all said they welcomed the Pope’s decision to host the two-day meeting.

Participants in the Jan. 7-8 extraordinary consistory in Rome shared their thoughts with the Register Wednesday on Pope Leo XIV’s first major meeting with the College of Cardinals since his election in May.

“It will be a moment of grace, of sharing, of deepening, and of listening on various topics,” predicted Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto, as he walked from his Rome residence to the Synod Hall in the Paul VI Hall to attend the gathering’s opening session. “I’m going with an open heart, let’s see how it develops.”

Despite some concerns that the extraordinary consistory might be too close to the Feast of the Epiphany and that the time for assembly interventions (just 100 minutes in total) may be too short, a large majority of the world’s cardinals are attending the Jan. 7-8 meeting. 

The closed-door meeting will focus on four interconnected themes: the role of the College of Cardinals in Leo XIV’s governance, the future of synodality, the reform of the Curia, and broad questions about the liturgy. Discussions will mostly take place in small working groups. 

The Vatican has presented the gathering as a strictly consultative, closed-door meeting, focused on prayer, reflection, and “common discernment” to support the Pope in his “high and demanding responsibility” in governing the universal Church. 

Those who spoke to the press as they entered the consistory all said they welcomed the Pope’s decision to host the two-day meeting. It comes after the suspension in 2014 of almost all such papal meetings with the sacred college. Francis preferred to consult his council of nine cardinals, the so-called C9, that met on a regular basis. 

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg said the C9 no longer exists but that he thought it would be a “good idea” to revive it, and that it would be “important that all continents are represented” within the group, as they were when the C9 began. 

As for this week’s consistory, the Jesuit cardinal, who through various appointments wielded significant influence during the last pontificate, said: “First we should listen to each other, give small opinions, and then it’s for the Pope to decide.” The Pope, Cardinal Hollerich said, “is a man who listens, he is a man of reflection, who thinks a lot and listens a lot.” 

Cardinal Leo said he thought the consistory was a “beautiful gesture,” adding that the Pope’s “priority for peace and unity, which we pray for every day at Mass, is important and central to his ministry and I think should also be for ours.” 

The cardinals are being split into working groups for each session, at the end of which they will report back to moderators who include Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. 

Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, who delivered daily meditations during the Synods on Synodality, provided the opening meditation this afternoon.

Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon said he expected the focus of discussions will be on the Gospel, the liturgy and the “continuation of the synod, among other things.” He said he was not sure what the cardinals themselves are proposing as they are being divided into groups. “My main concern will be about peace in the world,” he said. 

On the proposed rereading of Francis’ documents Evangelii Gaudium and Praedicate Evangelium — topics also on the agenda — the Burmese cardinal said “we want to have a more practical line of action” on these papal teachings. 

Asked by the Register if the topic of China and its relations with the Vatican would be a topic for discussion, Cardinal Bo said: “Most probably no, not about China, but about general things.” The cardinal, who has been publicly critical of Beijing in the past, said he himself would not be bringing up the issue — “not yet, not at this time,” he replied. 

Asked about restrictions on the traditional Roman rite imposed after Traditionis Custodes, Cardinal Bo said he was “indifferent” to the subject as he does not celebrate the Tridentine rite Mass, although he remembered serving at it as a boy.

Cardinal Hollerich told the Register that he thought the TLM issue would be discussed during the consistory. “I’m not against it,” he said, “but I do not like sometimes the values that are attached to it — no interreligious dialogue, not accepting the Second Vatican Council and so on. But the liturgy itself I think is no problem. If many people have access to God through that liturgy then that’s fine with me.” 

On being asked if he thought a new role for the cardinals might emerge from the consistory, Cardinal Leo responded: “I don’t know. The cardinals, as the senate of the Pope, are to be consulted, and Pope Francis and Pope Benedict before him consulted them in different ways. It is good that at the beginning, just a few months out, [Pope Leo] has convened all the cardinals. So I like this aspect of consulting, but it’s up to the Holy Father to decide.” 

Cardinal Leo said the Pope’s “openness to dialogue and to listening and consulting is a very beautiful thing. For any leader, whether inside or outside the Church, listening is something primordial.”

A persistent concern ahead of the last conclave was that the cardinals hardly knew one another, partly because Pope Francis held almost no consistories during his pontificate. 

Cardinal Leo, who has been a cardinal for just over a year, said he has already gotten to know some of his brother cardinals and hopes to know more over time. 

“If God gives us health and years we can get to know one another better, work better together, and be consulted and be a support to the pontificate and to the Petrine ministry,” he said.

This article was originally published by NCRegister.