BREAKING Pope Leo XIV Concludes Consistory with Unanimous Appeal "God desires peace for every nation and every people...we must not resign ourselves to violence" FULL TEXT
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Pope Leo XIV's address in the Synod Hall concluded the Extraordinary Consistory he convened for June 26 and 27, opening with a thought for Venezuela, struck by a devastating earthquake, and concluding with a prophetic appeal for peace ("Violence will not have the last word") with 178 cardinals from around the world who reflected, prayed, shared, and discussed over four sessions.
The fourth session of the Extraordinary Consistory began on Saturday, June 27th afternoon at 4 p.m. Some of the themes that emerged included deepening the ascetical and historical dimensions of synodality, while offering the faithful an image of the priesthood that is both evangelical and non-clerical. A press release from the Holy See Press Office reported that the work took place in the Aula del Sinodo (New Synod Hall), and was moderated by Cardinal Joseph William Tobin. Not “weighing down” the Church After the introductory report by Cardinal Mario Grech, several cardinals took the floor. According to the Press Office, the cardinals addressed the risk that “the complexity of consultation could weigh down the Church at a time when it is called to give its witness.” At the same time, it was reaffirmed that both the hierarchical Church and the People of God participate, though in different ways, in “the discernment of what the Spirit is saying to the Church.” The cardinals also highlighted the contribution of Eastern Catholic communities, whose synodal experience represents a significant contribution to the journey involving the entire Church.
FULL TEXT - ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY CONSISTORY
New Synod Hall on Saturday, June 27, 2026
_________________________________
Before entering into my concluding reflection, I would like to express our closeness, mine and that of the entire College of Cardinals, to the people of Venezuela, severely affected by the recent violent earthquake.
We assure our prayers for the victims, their families, and all those suffering the consequences of this tragedy. We also entrust to the Lord all those engaged in relief efforts and ask that the international community continue to show solidarity with that beloved nation.
Dear Brother Cardinals, we now come to the end of these days with a feeling of profound gratitude. I thank you for the freedom, fraternity, and ecclesial spirit with which you have participated in our work. I carry with me not only the content of your reflections, but also the experience that made them possible. In these days we have sought the Lord's will together, in the conviction that Christ continues to work in his Church: it is He who precedes us, gathers us, speaks through our brothers and sisters, and leads us on our mission. Everything comes from Him and everything returns to Him. Therefore, seeing Cardinals from such diverse Churches, cultures, and backgrounds listen to one another and seek together what best serves the Gospel has been a source of consolation and hope for me.
We began these days guided by the image of the Good Samaritan: a man who stops before his wounded brother, is deeply moved, and cares for him. I would now like to conclude with another Gospel icon: that of the disciples of Emmaus. They too journey marked by sadness and disappointment, but the Lord becomes their companion on the journey, listens to their questions, opens the Scriptures, makes their hearts burn, and transforms their journey. I like to think that even what we have experienced in these days bears some of this experience: we have walked together, we have listened to one another, and if we have made room for the Lord, He has rekindled hope in our hearts and now sends us back to our Churches to resume the journey with a new outlook.
The final reflection on the synodal journey has helped us reconsider what we have experienced in these days. It seems to me that the question of synodality is not primarily: "Who has the power to decide?" The question is more profound: "How do we together safeguard the gift that the Lord has entrusted to his Church?" When this question becomes the center of our discernment, the questions of authority, co-responsibility, and decisions also find their rightful place, illuminated by the mission and shared fidelity to the Gospel. Thus, I wish to entrust to you once again the journey of implementing the Synod. I ask you to accompany it with conviction in the Churches you serve, fostering authentic understanding and encouraging everyone to participate: it is a matter of helping our Churches grow in an increasingly evangelical manner.
I remind you, as we heard from Cardinal Grech, synodality is not a collection of meetings, nor a working method. It is a spiritual style. It is born from encounter, grows through listening, and matures through discernment. The real question is not how many conversations we will be able to organize, but what evangelical quality our meetings will have. When we listen to one another with humility and freedom, making room for the Spirit, our conversations do not remain an exchange of ideas, but become a place of conversion, in which we grow together in fidelity to the Lord.
Reflecting on the conversations of these days, I take with me first of all the gaze with which you contemplated the world in the first session. Many of you spoke of the suffering caused by war, violence, poverty, and the many injustices that mark the lives of people. But you didn't stop to describe them. Behind these tragedies, you recognized an even deeper suffering: loneliness, the crisis of relationships, the loss of hope, the difficulty of recognizing one another as brothers and sisters. It is a gaze that does not turn away from the wounds of the world, but seeks their roots, recognizing, often hidden within them, a renewed desire for meaning, authenticity, spirituality, and community. Many today are searching for hope and true relationships.
I was particularly struck by the way you spoke about young people. In their questions, but also in the suffering that sometimes leads them to desperation—and sometimes to the extreme desperation of taking their own lives—you recognized one of the deepest wounds of our time. But you also recognized the working of the Spirit. Their search for authenticity, for true relationships, and for meaning reminds us that the Gospel continues to meet the deepest longings of the human heart. Listening to them and their families with humility is also a way for the Lord to continue to convert the Church.
Many of you also mentioned the family. Wherever it is supported and accompanied, a school of relationships, solidarity, and hope grows; where it is wounded or isolated, all of society bears the consequences. In October, we will have a meeting with the heads of the Eastern Churches and the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences to evaluate the steps taken since Amoris Laetita . Some families will also participate to share their experiences. Their presence is essential, but I hope that all who come will prepare by listening closely and bringing the experience of the families of their Churches.
You have thus sought to listen to what the wounds of the world reveal about the human heart. It is precisely there, in the heart, that peace is also decided. Before manifesting itself in history, war arises within us, when suspicion replaces trust, fear replaces hope, and the other is perceived as a threat. But it is in the same heart that Christ continues to encounter us, to speak to us, and to convert us. From a reconciled heart, disarmed words can be born, new relationships, and a peace capable of reaching even the most distant peoples.
The second session led us to take a further step. It seems to me that you have grasped with great clarity one of the insights of Magnifica Humanitas : war is not merely a conflict between states. It arises much earlier, from a culture of power that permeates our way of thinking, of living relationships, of exercising power, of using economics, technology, and even religion. If this is the root of the crisis, the response requires rebuilding a culture of cooperation and dialogue, capable of giving new strength to multilateralism, so that peoples may once again learn to seek together the common good of the entire human family. On this journey, the contribution of the lay faithful engaged in public life is essential: they need the closeness and support of the ecclesial community to practice the "political charity" you mentioned. The culture of cooperation itself grows through ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, which does not weaken our Christian identity, but rather enables it to serve the common good and peace together.
I also found particularly valuable the way some of you addressed the theme of the nonviolent response to the many forms of violence. It is a profoundly evangelical way of living in history, the fruit of contemplating Jesus's way of acting. It does not consist in renouncing conflict or in a passive attitude, but in choosing to confront it without reproducing its logic. It does not renounce truth or silence evil, but refuses to defend it with violence and to transform the other into an enemy: it begins by disarming oneself. It thus reveals the logic of Easter, in which love manifests itself as stronger than hatred and forgiveness breaks the spiral of revenge. This is the strength of the Crucified and Risen One: a strength that does not destroy the enemy, but makes it possible to rediscover a brother.
From this perspective, several groups have emphasized the need to further explore the topic of self-defense in light of the profound transformations that have occurred in the nature of contemporary conflicts. This reflection deserves further development with the necessary theological and pastoral rigor.
I also welcomed with particular interest your insistence on the Social Doctrine of the Church. You expressed the desire that it increasingly become a living heritage of our communities, a standard criterion for forming consciences and for pastoral discernment. It does not offer pre-established solutions, but educates the Church in an evangelical way of inhabiting reality, interpreting it, and responsibly guiding action.
Another common thread struck me. Many of you noted that today the common good is not simply a goal to be pursued: it is a reality to be rediscovered together. We live in a time when it becomes difficult even to recognize what is truly good for all. For this reason, rooted in Christ, the Church is called to safeguard places of encounter, listening, and dialogue where a renewed culture of the common good can flourish. This also requires patient educational work, one that helps us recognize the inviolable dignity of every person and the responsibility that binds us to one another. In this journey, the poor are not only recipients of our care, but protagonists of the hope that God continues to inspire in history.
Another conviction also emerged forcefully from many of your reflections. As we questioned the Church's responsibilities in today's world, you continually emphasized the importance of witness, proximity, the formation of consciences, and the building of fraternal and credible communities. This witness is born from the encounter with Christ, from his Word and the Sacraments, in which the Lord sustains his people and enables them to serve the world with the power of the Gospel. The Church is called to increasingly become what she proclaims. It is on this foundation that even the necessary reforms of structures, institutions, and processes can bear fruit.
Thus, these days strengthen my hope. Not only for what we have shared, but for the way we have done it. In a time marked by polarization, the way the Church listens and engages in dialogue also becomes part of her message. If we can continue to seek the Lord's will together, allowing ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, I am certain that our communion will become ever more fruitful for the Church's mission and for service to the entire human family.
I believe that, little by little, we are rediscovering the true meaning of the Consistory: the gathering of the College of Cardinals around the Successor of Peter so that, through mutual listening and shared discernment, the Holy Spirit may help the Pope guide the Church. It is not a parliament, not a congress in which opinions or interests prevail, but an experience of communion in service of the mission. What we are learning to live in these days concerns not only the College of Cardinals. It is a way of life we are called to promote throughout the Church, so that every baptized person, according to their vocation and responsibility, may participate in building the civilization of love and in serving the common good. As I have already mentioned, I wish to continue this annual event starting next year. I have not yet set the date: I plan to communicate it to you towards the end of this year.
This Consistory was a precious moment, but it must not remain an isolated event. Throughout the Church, we wish to promote spaces in which the People of God can listen to one another, pray, discern, and journey together. This is the soul of the process of implementing the Synod. This will also be the spirit of the next meeting dedicated to Amoris laetitia and of many other initiatives the Lord will ask us to undertake. What matters is not multiplying our meetings, but learning to experience encounters in which, by listening to one another, we learn together to listen to the Lord.
Before concluding, I would like to welcome the unanimous appeal that has arisen from this Consistory and make it my own. Indeed, I would like us to do so together, through these words. Let us say it to our brother bishops, to the Churches entrusted to our ministry, and to all the peoples of the earth: God desires peace for every nation and every people. Therefore, we must not resign ourselves to violence. Violence will not have the last word. God continues to open paths of reconciliation and peace throughout history. We have the responsibility to walk them with courage and to help the world recognize them.
Brothers, I heartily thank you for your contribution, as well as the speakers, moderators, and all those who, with generosity and discretion, made these days of work and fellowship possible. Thank you for helping me, once again, to recognize the work that Christ continues to accomplish among his people and in the world. We entrust the fruits of this Consistory to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. May she teach us to preserve unity in diversity and to serve the Gospel of peace with humility, courage, and hope. Thank you!
FULL TEXT - ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EXTRAORDINARY CONSISTORY
New Synod Hall on Saturday, June 27, 2026
_________________________________
Before entering into my concluding reflection, I would like to express our closeness, mine and that of the entire College of Cardinals, to the people of Venezuela, severely affected by the recent violent earthquake.
We assure our prayers for the victims, their families, and all those suffering the consequences of this tragedy. We also entrust to the Lord all those engaged in relief efforts and ask that the international community continue to show solidarity with that beloved nation.
Dear Brother Cardinals, we now come to the end of these days with a feeling of profound gratitude. I thank you for the freedom, fraternity, and ecclesial spirit with which you have participated in our work. I carry with me not only the content of your reflections, but also the experience that made them possible. In these days we have sought the Lord's will together, in the conviction that Christ continues to work in his Church: it is He who precedes us, gathers us, speaks through our brothers and sisters, and leads us on our mission. Everything comes from Him and everything returns to Him. Therefore, seeing Cardinals from such diverse Churches, cultures, and backgrounds listen to one another and seek together what best serves the Gospel has been a source of consolation and hope for me.
We began these days guided by the image of the Good Samaritan: a man who stops before his wounded brother, is deeply moved, and cares for him. I would now like to conclude with another Gospel icon: that of the disciples of Emmaus. They too journey marked by sadness and disappointment, but the Lord becomes their companion on the journey, listens to their questions, opens the Scriptures, makes their hearts burn, and transforms their journey. I like to think that even what we have experienced in these days bears some of this experience: we have walked together, we have listened to one another, and if we have made room for the Lord, He has rekindled hope in our hearts and now sends us back to our Churches to resume the journey with a new outlook.
The final reflection on the synodal journey has helped us reconsider what we have experienced in these days. It seems to me that the question of synodality is not primarily: "Who has the power to decide?" The question is more profound: "How do we together safeguard the gift that the Lord has entrusted to his Church?" When this question becomes the center of our discernment, the questions of authority, co-responsibility, and decisions also find their rightful place, illuminated by the mission and shared fidelity to the Gospel. Thus, I wish to entrust to you once again the journey of implementing the Synod. I ask you to accompany it with conviction in the Churches you serve, fostering authentic understanding and encouraging everyone to participate: it is a matter of helping our Churches grow in an increasingly evangelical manner.
I remind you, as we heard from Cardinal Grech, synodality is not a collection of meetings, nor a working method. It is a spiritual style. It is born from encounter, grows through listening, and matures through discernment. The real question is not how many conversations we will be able to organize, but what evangelical quality our meetings will have. When we listen to one another with humility and freedom, making room for the Spirit, our conversations do not remain an exchange of ideas, but become a place of conversion, in which we grow together in fidelity to the Lord.
Reflecting on the conversations of these days, I take with me first of all the gaze with which you contemplated the world in the first session. Many of you spoke of the suffering caused by war, violence, poverty, and the many injustices that mark the lives of people. But you didn't stop to describe them. Behind these tragedies, you recognized an even deeper suffering: loneliness, the crisis of relationships, the loss of hope, the difficulty of recognizing one another as brothers and sisters. It is a gaze that does not turn away from the wounds of the world, but seeks their roots, recognizing, often hidden within them, a renewed desire for meaning, authenticity, spirituality, and community. Many today are searching for hope and true relationships.
I was particularly struck by the way you spoke about young people. In their questions, but also in the suffering that sometimes leads them to desperation—and sometimes to the extreme desperation of taking their own lives—you recognized one of the deepest wounds of our time. But you also recognized the working of the Spirit. Their search for authenticity, for true relationships, and for meaning reminds us that the Gospel continues to meet the deepest longings of the human heart. Listening to them and their families with humility is also a way for the Lord to continue to convert the Church.
Many of you also mentioned the family. Wherever it is supported and accompanied, a school of relationships, solidarity, and hope grows; where it is wounded or isolated, all of society bears the consequences. In October, we will have a meeting with the heads of the Eastern Churches and the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences to evaluate the steps taken since Amoris Laetita . Some families will also participate to share their experiences. Their presence is essential, but I hope that all who come will prepare by listening closely and bringing the experience of the families of their Churches.
You have thus sought to listen to what the wounds of the world reveal about the human heart. It is precisely there, in the heart, that peace is also decided. Before manifesting itself in history, war arises within us, when suspicion replaces trust, fear replaces hope, and the other is perceived as a threat. But it is in the same heart that Christ continues to encounter us, to speak to us, and to convert us. From a reconciled heart, disarmed words can be born, new relationships, and a peace capable of reaching even the most distant peoples.
The second session led us to take a further step. It seems to me that you have grasped with great clarity one of the insights of Magnifica Humanitas : war is not merely a conflict between states. It arises much earlier, from a culture of power that permeates our way of thinking, of living relationships, of exercising power, of using economics, technology, and even religion. If this is the root of the crisis, the response requires rebuilding a culture of cooperation and dialogue, capable of giving new strength to multilateralism, so that peoples may once again learn to seek together the common good of the entire human family. On this journey, the contribution of the lay faithful engaged in public life is essential: they need the closeness and support of the ecclesial community to practice the "political charity" you mentioned. The culture of cooperation itself grows through ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, which does not weaken our Christian identity, but rather enables it to serve the common good and peace together.
I also found particularly valuable the way some of you addressed the theme of the nonviolent response to the many forms of violence. It is a profoundly evangelical way of living in history, the fruit of contemplating Jesus's way of acting. It does not consist in renouncing conflict or in a passive attitude, but in choosing to confront it without reproducing its logic. It does not renounce truth or silence evil, but refuses to defend it with violence and to transform the other into an enemy: it begins by disarming oneself. It thus reveals the logic of Easter, in which love manifests itself as stronger than hatred and forgiveness breaks the spiral of revenge. This is the strength of the Crucified and Risen One: a strength that does not destroy the enemy, but makes it possible to rediscover a brother.
From this perspective, several groups have emphasized the need to further explore the topic of self-defense in light of the profound transformations that have occurred in the nature of contemporary conflicts. This reflection deserves further development with the necessary theological and pastoral rigor.
I also welcomed with particular interest your insistence on the Social Doctrine of the Church. You expressed the desire that it increasingly become a living heritage of our communities, a standard criterion for forming consciences and for pastoral discernment. It does not offer pre-established solutions, but educates the Church in an evangelical way of inhabiting reality, interpreting it, and responsibly guiding action.
Another common thread struck me. Many of you noted that today the common good is not simply a goal to be pursued: it is a reality to be rediscovered together. We live in a time when it becomes difficult even to recognize what is truly good for all. For this reason, rooted in Christ, the Church is called to safeguard places of encounter, listening, and dialogue where a renewed culture of the common good can flourish. This also requires patient educational work, one that helps us recognize the inviolable dignity of every person and the responsibility that binds us to one another. In this journey, the poor are not only recipients of our care, but protagonists of the hope that God continues to inspire in history.
Another conviction also emerged forcefully from many of your reflections. As we questioned the Church's responsibilities in today's world, you continually emphasized the importance of witness, proximity, the formation of consciences, and the building of fraternal and credible communities. This witness is born from the encounter with Christ, from his Word and the Sacraments, in which the Lord sustains his people and enables them to serve the world with the power of the Gospel. The Church is called to increasingly become what she proclaims. It is on this foundation that even the necessary reforms of structures, institutions, and processes can bear fruit.
Thus, these days strengthen my hope. Not only for what we have shared, but for the way we have done it. In a time marked by polarization, the way the Church listens and engages in dialogue also becomes part of her message. If we can continue to seek the Lord's will together, allowing ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit, I am certain that our communion will become ever more fruitful for the Church's mission and for service to the entire human family.
I believe that, little by little, we are rediscovering the true meaning of the Consistory: the gathering of the College of Cardinals around the Successor of Peter so that, through mutual listening and shared discernment, the Holy Spirit may help the Pope guide the Church. It is not a parliament, not a congress in which opinions or interests prevail, but an experience of communion in service of the mission. What we are learning to live in these days concerns not only the College of Cardinals. It is a way of life we are called to promote throughout the Church, so that every baptized person, according to their vocation and responsibility, may participate in building the civilization of love and in serving the common good. As I have already mentioned, I wish to continue this annual event starting next year. I have not yet set the date: I plan to communicate it to you towards the end of this year.
This Consistory was a precious moment, but it must not remain an isolated event. Throughout the Church, we wish to promote spaces in which the People of God can listen to one another, pray, discern, and journey together. This is the soul of the process of implementing the Synod. This will also be the spirit of the next meeting dedicated to Amoris laetitia and of many other initiatives the Lord will ask us to undertake. What matters is not multiplying our meetings, but learning to experience encounters in which, by listening to one another, we learn together to listen to the Lord.
Before concluding, I would like to welcome the unanimous appeal that has arisen from this Consistory and make it my own. Indeed, I would like us to do so together, through these words. Let us say it to our brother bishops, to the Churches entrusted to our ministry, and to all the peoples of the earth: God desires peace for every nation and every people. Therefore, we must not resign ourselves to violence. Violence will not have the last word. God continues to open paths of reconciliation and peace throughout history. We have the responsibility to walk them with courage and to help the world recognize them.
Brothers, I heartily thank you for your contribution, as well as the speakers, moderators, and all those who, with generosity and discretion, made these days of work and fellowship possible. Thank you for helping me, once again, to recognize the work that Christ continues to accomplish among his people and in the world. We entrust the fruits of this Consistory to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. May she teach us to preserve unity in diversity and to serve the Gospel of peace with humility, courage, and hope. Thank you!
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