Everything we still didn't know about the Leo Consistory
We publish excerpts from the four reports prepared for last week's meeting of cardinals, which fueled the debate.
Almost a week has passed since the Extraordinary Consistory, and curiosity remains about what the Pope and the cardinals discussed behind closed doors in the new Synod Hall.
As Il Giornale anticipated on December 16, the four topics brought to the twenty working groups were a rereading of the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, the Synod and Synodality, a deeper understanding of the Apostolic Constitution Predicate Evangelium, and the liturgy. Only the first two, however, were the focus of the Consistory's work. This is because during the first session, the cardinals were asked to make a choice dictated by the limited time available.
Thus, the two sessions of the final day were introduced by reports from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the General Secretariat of the Synod, on Evangelii Gaudium and Synodality, respectively. Il Giornale can reveal the content of these texts, which in some ways outline a governance program.
No to the obsessive proclamation of doctrine
Fernández, one of Francis's most trusted men, wrote (and read in the hall) that "certainly there can be changes compared to the previous pontificate, but the challenge posed by Evangelii Gaudium cannot be buried." The head of the former Holy Office appealed to "reread" the first apostolic exhortation, which states that proclamation is not "an obsessive proclamation of all the doctrines and norms of the Church." According to the Argentine prefect, evangelization "requires creativity." Reflection on the Gospel involves "two specific requests," which are "the need to remain open to reforming our practices, styles, and organizations, aware that our models may often not be the best," and "the need to frequently review the content of our sermons and interventions" so as not to end up "always speaking about the same doctrinal, moral, bioethical, and political issues."
The Synod's Consensus
The other report read in the hall was that of Cardinal Grech, dedicated to the Synod. The Maltese cardinal stated that "it is always up to the Bishop of Rome to convene, accompany, conclude, and—if necessary—suspend the Synodal process. In no way do the Synod of Bishops and the exercise of Synodality limit the exercise of primacy." For Grech, a symbolic figure of the Synodal Church during the Bergoglian pontificate, "it is also possible to envision an exercise of Synodality on multiple levels, involving different stakeholders depending on the issues to be addressed." Grech calls for a kind of multiplication of Synodality, including the convocation of the College of Cardinals itself, as well as the "desirable periodic meeting of the Holy Father with the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences." According to the cardinal, the Synod should "offer the Bishop of Rome a consensus on the issue at hand." He also calls for "an informal way of exercising Synodality" and defends the work done in recent years, arguing that "the orderly exercise of Synodality is already bearing fruit," including, he says, a "clear impact on missionary outreach."
The Unread Reports
But not knowing which of the four topics would be chosen, the cardinals also had on their table the reports on Predicate Evangelium and liturgy, which had been prepared by Cardinal Fabio Baggio and Cardinal Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. In the first case, it seems significant that the Pope has entrusted Baggio, currently secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, with the task of reporting on the reform of the Curia desired by Francis. This choice could herald a possible career advancement for Cardinal Baggio, highly esteemed by Leo XIV. The text, seen by Il Giornale, proposes a "Roman Curia at the service of the Church's mission."
For Baggio, the reform desired by Bergoglio provides "the universal Church with a service structure that responds more adequately and effectively to the missionary challenges of our time, a renewed exercise of that 'aggiornamento' initiated by the Second Vatican Council." But according to the cardinal, the Praedicate Evangelium states not only that the Curia is at the service of the Pope, but that "it is also at the service of the bishops, including individually and collectively, of the Episcopal Conferences." The reform uses "'healthy decentralization'" as its "criterion" and requires the Curia to leave "to the competence of the bishops the power to resolve (...) questions they are familiar with and that do not affect the unity of doctrine." This report also speaks of a "reform (...) that intends to give the Church the face of Synodality" and calls for "the dicasteries and offices of the Roman Curia to be primarily 'listening centers.'"
Roche and the Tridentine Mass
Roche's report, however, has sparked discussion, even though it remained only on paper. An anonymous cardinal told Niwa Limbu of The Catholic Herald that the prefect's document was "quite negative about the traditional Mass." These words sparked considerable curiosity about the report, which has remained unpublished until now. Once again, Il Giornale can reveal its content today and confirm that it was not at all benevolent toward the so-called ancient liturgy. The text states that "the reform of the liturgy desired by the Second Vatican Council is not only fully in harmony with the truest meaning of tradition, but constitutes a lofty way of serving tradition, so that the latter, like a great river, may lead the Church to the port of eternity." The British cardinal adds that "without legitimate progress, tradition would be reduced to a collection of dead things, not all of which are healthy; without healthy tradition, progress risks becoming a pathological search for novelty, which cannot generate life." But the 'broadside attacks' against lovers of the so-called Tridentine Mass come at the end. Roche acknowledges that "the implementation of the reform has suffered and suffers from a lack of formation, and this is the urgent matter that must be addressed, starting with the seminaries," but then goes on to vindicate the restrictions he placed on the celebration in the extraordinary form.
For this reason, he cites Francis's apostolic letter "Desiderio desideravi," which had further rejected the liberalization granted by Benedict XVI in 2007, and writes that "we cannot return to that ritual form that the Council Fathers, cum petro and sub petro, felt the need to reform, approving, under the guidance of the Spirit and according to their conscience as pastors, the principles from which the reform was born." And so there is the vindication of the document that archived Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum once and for all: "I wrote Traditionis Custodes so that the Church may raise, in the variety of languages, a single and identical prayer capable of expressing its unity." In his report on the liturgy, Roche does not abandon but doubles down on Francis's restrictions, writing:
"The use of the liturgical books that the Council sought to reform was, from Saint John Paul II to Francis, a concession that in no way envisaged its promotion. Pope Francis—while granting the use of the 1962 Missale Romanum, as established in Traditionis Custodes—has indicated the path of unity in the use of the liturgical books promulgated by the holy pontiffs Paul VI and John Paul II, in conformity with the decrees of the Second Vatican Council, the sole expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite."
The report concludes by citing the controversial "Desiderio desideravi" and arguing that "it would be banal to read the tensions, unfortunately present around the celebration, as a simple divergence of sensibilities towards a ritual form. The problem is first and foremost ecclesiological. I do not see how one can recognize the validity of the Council (...) and not welcome the liturgical reform born of Sacrosanctum Concilium." This position is not shared by the communities linked to the Tridentine Mass and remaining faithful to Rome, since they have always recognized the validity of the Second Vatican Council and the conciliar constitution on the liturgy, contesting instead that after the Council the indications of Sacrosanctum Concilium were not respected.
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