At 7:30 this morning, in Saint Peter’s Basilica, the Holy Father Leo XIV presided over Holy Mass with the Cardinals gathered in the Extraordinary Consistory from 26 to 27 June 2026.

AdVaticanum gives the English translation to the Homily given today:

Dearest brothers,

We have gathered around the altar of the Lord, near the tomb of Saint Peter, to begin the Consistory. We come to celebrate this Eucharist from every part of the world: together with our lives, we therefore offer to God the communities and peoples we carry in our hearts, as well as our pastoral projects and experiences, both joyful and challenging.

This variety of affections and thoughts now concentrates: that is, it finds that luminous center, which is Christ. He himself, in person, addresses us, saying: “I am the true vine” (Jn 15:1). Through Jesus, grace and truth flow into our lives (cf. Jn 1:17), renewing us intimately: these divine gifts are also the fertile sap of the Consistory we inaugurate today. It is the Gospel itself that prepares the conditions for it to be fruitful: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). On the one hand, the Master warns us that “without me you can do nothing” (v. 5), on the other, he wants his disciples to bear “much fruit” (v. 8). Yes, much: the grace of God does not produce stunted growth in those who welcome it, but rather a thriving development. The eternal Word, in fact, became man so that all “may have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Begun in faith, this life is even strengthened by the test of pruning, because it is cultivated by the Father’s care.

As we ask God to grant us strength and wisdom, it is significant that our Consistory takes place on the eve of the solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Let us pause together in this memory, which recalls the pillars of the Catholic and Roman Church, the two missionary martyrs whose preaching became so integral to their lives that it became part of Sacred Scripture.

Listening today to St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians, we can note their happy consonance with those of the Gospel. The different charisms, ministries, and ecclesial activities are like branches of the one vine, that is, of the one Lord (cf. 1 Cor 12:4–6) who infuses the Holy Spirit into his Church. This organic unity corresponds to the criterion that makes all those ecclesial services good and enjoyable: the criterion of the common good (cf. v. 7).

Dearest ones, from the Word of God that we have heard, I would like to draw some indications for our discernment in these days.

First, the example of Saints Peter and Paul encourages us to share true freedom in faith. Indeed, it is precisely our relationship with the Lord Jesus that frees us from sin and fear: while he calls us to follow him, he himself sends us into the world as successors of the Apostles. Proclaiming the Gospel, celebrating the Sacraments, and dedicating ourselves to the Lord’s flock is accomplished and bears fruit to the extent of our belief in him, the Good Shepherd. Faith is that virtue, never to be taken for granted, that gives life to the Church, because it corresponds to the grace that nourishes the branches of the one vine. The living Church is the Church that believes, through the gift of the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts: this Church bears much fruit. Just as divine grace precedes human freedom, so the Church’s faith precedes ours and demands to be witnessed to with ardour. This mission has Christ as its beginning and end: in the words of the psalmist, “Proclaim his salvation day after day; declare his glory among the nations” (Ps 96:2–3).

Second, we ask for the gift of peace in unity. While we invite all peoples to faith, in which we are truly free, international tensions and conflicts gravely wound the human family. However, initiatives and experiences are not lacking; indeed, they are multiplying in the Church and throughout the world that call for respect for human dignity, justice, law, and simply for humanity. This is a reason for hope, because it attests to the beauty of the work of God, who created us in his image and likeness, as a sign of his glory in the world. When this sign is wounded, we are all wounded. When it is corrupted, we all suffer. When it is killed, we all feel torn apart. Therefore, war is never worthy of man, and is never blessed by God, because the Creator has endowed us with the intelligence and will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts, perhaps equipped with hyper-technological weapons. The unity of the human family precedes individual peoples and states. This is not just a biological fact: it is an ethical principle. Peace is a duty of justice because we are one human family, a magnificent humanitas that finds in Christ its Head and Redeemer.

Reflecting on the Encyclical I promulgated on May 15, we must therefore continue on the path traced by Saint Paul VI: when he “introduced the expression ‘civilization of love,’ the world was marked by the Cold War, the arms race, and serious economic imbalances. In that context, the Church pointed to an alternative path to the ideological opposition between systems, imagining a social order in which justice and charity are intertwined” (Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas, 186. Cf. Saint Paul VI, Regina Caeli, May 17, 1970). This is how Christian witness becomes the prophecy of a new world, evangelization and service, a cultural and social project that integrally promotes human development. While proclaiming the Gospel, amid joys and persecutions, the Church is never partisan: she is for everyone, and to each she addresses the same word of conversion and salvation.

Third, today and always, let us enjoy harmony in obedience, that is, in the listening that recognizes the gift of the Word, made flesh for us. Through this exercise, the Holy Spirit guides us, himself pointing out pastoral problems and opportunities, purifying intentions and correcting what deviates from the common path. The implementation of the Synod, to which we are committed, invites everyone to proceed in the unity of faith, in the promotion of peace, in obedience to the living Word, who is Jesus. In this light, “the enormous and rapid cultural changes demand that we constantly seek to express the truths of all time in a language that allows us to recognize their enduring newness” (Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 41). The one Word, made man, is indeed expressed in all languages: the dead and risen Christ is the true vine, who bears fruit through all the cultures that Christians transform from within. Thus, while the ideologies of the world wither, the Holy Spirit makes fraternal understanding, charity, and missionary zeal flourish in the Church.

Working together, our collegiality epitomizes the synodality in which all the baptized participate, in the unity of the People of God. Synodality and collegiality are, in fact, forms of Christian fraternity, which binds us as baptized persons and as bishops. Therefore, the help you can give me in the exercise of the Petrine ministry finds in me the one who asks, not the one who commands. The authority of the primacy, in fact, belongs to one who listens and only therefore leads, to one who learns and only therefore teaches, always following the one Master. May the intercession of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul accompany us on this exciting journey.