In Letter to Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV Shares Insights from January Consistory
The Holy Father discusses what “emerged from the groups” about Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium.
VATICAN CITY, 14 April 2026 — Pope Leo XIV has written to members of the Sacred College, reflecting on what “emerged from the groups” regarding one of the principal themes discussed at the extraordinary Consistory he convened in January.
In a letter dated April 12, the Holy Father notes that, having already addressed during the Consistory certain elements of synodality that emerged from the group discussions, he now turns to the Cardinals’ reflections on Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), particularly with regard to mission and the transmission of the faith.
In his Christmas letter to the Cardinals, Pope Leo XIV had outlined four themes for reflection at the forthcoming Consistory: Evangelii Gaudium and the missionary nature of the Church; Praedicate Evangelium and the Roman Curia; the Synod and Synodality; and the liturgy. However, upon their arrival at the Consistory, the Cardinals were instructed to vote by table on two topics for discussion, choosing the Synod and Synodality and Evangelii Gaudium.
The January 7–8 Consistory was structured along the lines of the “Synod on Synodality,” with Cardinals gathered in “groups” around small round tables—nine tables composed of voting Cardinals and eleven of non-voting Cardinals and Roman Curia officials. Reports were prepared by secretaries designated in advance, with those of the voting Cardinals presented aloud during the proceedings, while, for reasons of time, the others were submitted to the Holy Father.
Published today by the Vatican, the Holy Father’s letter follows a communication sent on April 13 to the members of the Sacred College by its Dean, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, announcing that the next extraordinary Consistory will be held June 26–27, ahead of the June 29 Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
Here is the official English text of the Pope’s letter.
Your Eminence,
During this holy season of Easter, I wish to convey to you my heartfelt and fraternal greetings, in the hope that the peace of the risen Lord may sustain and renew our suffering world.
I likewise renew my gratitude for your participation in the Consistory last January. I greatly appreciate the work carried out in the groups, which facilitated free, concrete and spiritually fruitful exchanges, as well as the notable quality of the interventions made during the plenary. The compiled contributions constitute a resource of lasting value, which I hope will be reflected on further, and will mature through ecclesial discernment.
In my concluding remarks in January, I already referred to some elements regarding synodality that emerged from the groups. Now, I wish to focus in particular on what emerged from the groups regarding Evangelii Gaudium, especially concerning mission and the transmission of the faith.
Your contributions make it clear that this Exhortation continues to be a significant point of reference. In addition to introducing new content, it refocuses everything on the kerygma as the heart of our Christian and ecclesial identity. It was recognized as a “breath of fresh air,” capable of initiating processes of pastoral and missionary conversion—rather than producing immediate structural reforms—and thus profoundly guiding the Church’s journey.
Indeed, you emphasized how this perspective challenges the Church at every level. On a personal level, it calls every baptized person to renew their encounter with Christ, moving from a faith merely received to a faith truly lived and experienced. This journey affects the very quality of spiritual life, expressed in the primacy of prayer, in the witness that precedes words, and in the coherence between faith and life. At the community level, it calls for a shift from a pastoral approach of maintenance to one of mission. This requires communities to be living agents of the proclamation—welcoming communities that use accessible language, attentive to the quality of relationships, and capable of offering places for listening, accompaniment and healing. At the diocesan level, the responsibility of Pastors to resolutely support missionary boldness emerges clearly, ensuring that such boldness is not weighed down or stifled by organizational excesses, but is guided by a discernment that helps us to recognize what is essential.
From all this flows a profoundly unified understanding of mission, which is Christ-centered and kerygmatic. It is born of an encounter with Christ that is capable of transforming lives and spreading through attraction rather than conquest. It is an integral mission, holding in balance explicit proclamation, witness, commitment and dialogue, and yielding neither to the temptation of proselytism nor to a merely institutional mentality of preservation or expansion. Even when the Church finds herself in a minority, she is called to live with confident courage, as a small flock bringing hope to all, mindful that the aim of mission is not its own survival, but the communication of the love with which God loves the world.
Among the specific suggestions that emerged, the following deserve to be welcomed and reflected on further: the need to relaunch Evangelii Gaudium through an honest assessment of what has actually been embraced over the years and what, by contrast, remains unfamiliar or unimplemented, with particular attention to the necessary reforms of the processes of Christian initiation; the importance of valuing apostolic and pastoral visits as authentic opportunities for kerygmatic proclamation and for a growth in the quality of relationships; and the similar need to reassess the effectiveness of ecclesial communication, including at the level of the Holy See, from a more explicitly missionary perspective.
With a grateful heart, I renew my thanks for your service and contribution to the life of the Church. In regard to the forthcoming Consistory, which will take place from 26 to 27 June, more detailed information will be provided in due course to assist with the necessary preparations.
In the risen Lord, source of our hope, I send you my warmest Easter greetings.
With fraternal esteem in Christ,
From the Vatican, 12 April 2026
LEO PP. XIV
*This article originally appeared at The College of Cardinals Report.
I’m hoping they will talk about evangelizing people and not alienating those that like the mass of the ages. They should also realize that the TLM seminaries are thriving.
More Vatican weasel words