THANKS BE TO GOD THAT POPE LEO IS VERY CLEAR WHEN HE SPEAKS; NO SCRATCHING OF ONE’S HEAD!

 My astute comments embedded in RED:

EXTRAORDINARY CONCISTORY
(26-27 JUNE 2026)

OPENING ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

Audience Hall
Friday, 26 June 2026

[Multimedia]

_________________________________

Dear brother Cardinals,

I welcome you and thank you most sincerely for having once again accepted my invitation.  Your presence demonstrates the concern for the whole Church that we all share in our service to the People of God and to the mission entrusted to us by the Lord.

At the Consistory last January, I expressed a simple wish: that these meetings might help us to learn ever more to “work together in the service of the Church” and to continue “a dialogue that assists me in serving the mission of the whole Church.” These were not merely introductory words. I continue to believe that this is one of the most important responsibilities entrusted to the College of Cardinals. We too, like the whole Church, learn as we walk forward. Communion is never a result that is achieved once and for all: it remains a daily conversion, which takes shape in prayer, and through concrete actions, relationships of trust, and a willingness to listen to one another.

In recent months, I have had the opportunity to recall on several occasions that we are called to be builders of Christ’s communion, a communion that takes shape in a synodal Church in which everyone cooperates in the same mission, each according to their own charism and ministry. (Pope Leo gives us the true meaning of synodality, not dividing people but uniting us in the mission of the Church which Christ has defined.)

As I said to the Roman Curia, this communion “is built not so much through words and documents as through concrete gestures and attitudes that ought to appear in our daily lives, including in our work” (Address to the Roman Curia for the Exchange of Christmas Greetings, 22 December 2025). We are not guardians of particular interests, but “disciples and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, called in Christ to be leaven of universal fraternity” (ibid.). (In the past, it seem to many and yours truly too, that particular interests were at the fore of synodality, creating processes that lead to redefining marriage and Holy Orders, a worldly sexual amorality by embracing LGBTQ+++ ideologies promoted by worldly ideologues, etc)

For this reason, I desired that our work together here focus on four themes that are deeply interconnected.

First of all, we are invited to contemplate the world in which the Church is called to proclaim the Gospel. Before asking ourselves what to do, we must pause to consider reality, looking at it through the eyes of faith and allowing ourselves to be challenged by listening to our brothers and sisters. As I recalled a few weeks ago: “Jesus travels the streets, crosses the squares and visits our neighborhoods, dwelling in the settings of our daily lives. He is a God who is close to us, who walks with his people, the Lord of history” (Homily in “Plaza de Cibeles,” Madrid, 7 June 2026). Today, the Lord continues to go before us in history, and the Church is called first and foremost to recognize his presence. (Yes, indeed, Incarnational is the Catholic Church and she always has been!)

Next, we shall reflect together on the culture of power and the civilization of love. Many of you come from lands marked by war, violence, and social or religious polarization. Yet none of us are immune to the many forms of conflict, oppression, and division that afflict our societies today. For this reason, the discernment that we are called to undertake concerns us all and challenges the Church’s mission in every context. The Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas offers us some valuable insights for understanding our times. I am particularly keen to hear how these pages resonate within your particular Churches, what questions they raise, what perspectives they open up, and what steps they suggest. An encyclical, in fact, continues its journey when it is received, interpreted, and embodied in the concrete life of the Churches.

The third session will then explore Magnifica Humanitas in greater depth, examining the contribution that the Church can make to building up the common good. We live in an age in which the temptation towards fragmentation is growing and particular interests all too easily prevail. The Church’s social teaching reminds us that the common good does not arise spontaneously, but requires shared responsibility. For the Church, this takes on a very specific form: a synodal style at the service of the mission of the Kingdom. The Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas recalls this in paragraph 86, adding that this requires attention to the way in which decisions are made and responsibilities exercised, through transparency, evaluation, and shared responsibility. 

Finally, we will devote a session to the process of implementing the Synod. This final session will not introduce a new theme, but bring together and connect what we have shared in the previous sessions. In the face of the wounds of the world, the building up of the common good, and the mission of the Church, synodality points to a way forward: listening, discerning, and taking responsibility together for the choices that the Lord entrusts to us. Synodality is not, first and foremost, a set of procedures; as I have said on several occasions, synodality is an attitude, an openness, a willingness to understand. At times it has been interpreted as a diminishment of authority. In reality, it helps us to understand more deeply the meaning of authority itself, which exists to safeguard communion, to foster the participation of all, and to guide the Church’s common journey. (Pope Leo once again defines synodality as understanding the Deposit of Faith, not changing it, understanding what diminishes the Deposit of Faith in people’s lives, and allowing the authority of the Church to foster the common good with adherence to the Deposit of Faith and Morals but understood within the challenges of modern life.)

These four sessions find their unity in the missionary perspective, which we shared at the last Consistory and which I referred to in my letter this past April. We are not here, first and foremost, to reflect on the internal life of the Church. (No navel (or is it naval) gazing. Yes, I would like TC overturned, Fiduccia Supplicans suppressed and more attention give to cleaning up the horrible liturgical abuse of the Bugnini Mass and a reform of the reform of that, but that is not what Pope Leo wants to do now—but I hope it will happen eventually.)

All the themes we will address — our view of the world, peace, the common good, and synodality — converge on a single question: how can we help our Churches today to proclaim the Gospel with greater fidelity, freedom, and credibility? Mission is not merely one of the Church’s many tasks. It is her very reason for existing and thus, it also becomes the criterion that guides our discernment. When we learn to listen to one another, to share responsibilities, and to recognize the action of the Spirit in the various Churches, we are not merely improving the way we work: we are becoming a Church that is better able to engage with the men and women of our time and to bear witness to them of the joy of the Gospel. (Fidelity! Fidelity! Fidelity! We’re off to a great start!)

For this reason, I wish to ask you for your help. The ministry which the Lord has entrusted to me cannot be carried out alone. It requires your experience, your pastoral wisdom, and your knowledge of the Churches and of the peoples entrusted to you. I am counting on you to help me discern what the Spirit is saying to the Church today. I need your support: strong, explicit, and public. I need to feel sustained by you, as by brothers. (God bless Pope Leo, but the way to accomplish this is not to politicize how the Church teaches or changes her teachings through pressure groups, political jockeying and ideologies controlling agendas. The agenda has to be the Deposit of Faith and Morals highlighted in the CCC. When political lobbies in the Church try to manipulate the pope and bishops and subvert their authority and turn the pyramid of the Church upside down, even bishops are at each others’ throats and at the pope’s throat too!)

I therefore ask you to accompany me not only during these days of work, but also in the daily service to the communion of the universal Church. Help me to listen to what is emerging in the Churches, to recognize the signs of hope that often grow in silence, but also to not ignore the struggles, misunderstandings, and resistance that can slow down our journey. I need your freedom, your frankness, and your loyalty. Sincere advice is always an act of communion. (When one listens to what is happening in the local dioceses/churches, and one hears that there are those promoting a worldly sexual amorality, a desire to ordain women or whatever so-called gender to Holy Orders, that the Mass should be casual and made-up on the spot and music should be secular with questionable theology and doctrinal content, then one takes action to correct it and to use an apologetic that is convincing and leads people to the truth to save them and their souls not to confirm them in their worldliness.)

I also ask you to uphold, each within your own Church and in your own ministry, this style of ecclesial discernment. I know that it requires patience and sometimes raises questions. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the Lord is teaching us a more evangelical way of living out together the responsibility he has entrusted to us. The credibility of our witness and the fruitfulness of our mission depend on this.

I therefore wish to encourage you to engage wholeheartedly in the group work we are undertaking. I am well aware that, for many of us, this is not the usual way of conducting a Consistory. Yet this too is part of the journey along which the Lord is leading us. Naturally, there will still be space for personal contributions and, as always, everyone is free to send me their observations or confidential reflections. But I ask you to enter into this ecclesial exercise with trust. We too learn synodality by practicing it; we learn together to grow in communion. I thank you in advance for your willingness, for your interior freedom, and for your love for the Church.

Let us entrust these days to the Holy Spirit, that he may make us docile to his voice and grant us the grace to seek together what best serves the Gospel and the good of the People of God.

Thank you.

WHEN THE CONCILIAR/SYNODAL CHURCH LEADS PEOPLE TO REPENT OF THEIR SINS, EMBRACE JESUS AND HIS DEPOSIT OF FAITH AND MORALS—OBEDIENCE MAKES SENSE BUT NO ONE CAN BE ASKED TO DISOBEY GOD IN ORDER TO PLEASE IDEOLOGUES…

 The Eastern Rites and the Eastern Orthodox know the true meaning of being a synodal Church. It means leading people to the Truth Who is Jesus Christ and His Divine Truths contained in the Deposit of Faith, itself static and unchanging but capable of being expressed in ways people understand given changes in language and culture and even educational abilities or disabilities. 

A synodal Church that downplays any moral teachings of the Church from peacemaking to all social justice issues and to personal sexuality the Church then downplays the truth and the call to conversion, obedience to Christ. But, but, but, when the synodal Church does that, it ceases to be synodal and Catholic. 

Finally, and thanks be to God, Pope Leo succinctly    defines synodality within the context of collegiality and defines his personal way of being pope. This definition of synodality is in the last paragraph of the pope’s homily and I highlight it in red. 

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

Vatican Basilica 
Friday, 26 June 2026

[Multimedia]

________________________________________

Dear brothers,

We have gathered around the altar of the Lord, at the tomb of Saint Peter, to begin this Consistory. From every corner of the world, we have come to celebrate this Eucharist. Let us offer to God our lives and the communities and peoples we hold dear, as well as our pastoral projects and experiences with all their joys and sorrows.

This diversity of emotions and thoughts now comes together and finds its luminous center in Christ, who himself 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 from within. These divine gifts are also the life-giving nourishment of the Consistory that we inaugurate today. The Gospel itself prepares the ground for it to bear fruit: “Remain in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4). On the one hand, then, the Master warns us that “apart from me you can do nothing” (v. 5), and on the other, he wants his disciples to bear “much fruit” (v. 8). Much fruit indeed, for God’s grace does not produce stunted growth in those who receive it, but rather a flourishing progress. Indeed, the eternal Word became man so that all might “have life, and have it abundantly” (Jn 10:10). Having begun in faith, this life is strengthened even through the trial of pruning, because it is cultivated by the Father’s attentive 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, then, to commemorate these two pillars of the Roman Catholic Church, the two missionary martyrs whose preaching became one with their lives, to the point of becoming part of Sacred Scripture.

As we listen today to Saint Paul’s words to the Corinthians, we can see how beautifully they harmonize with those of the Gospel. Indeed, the various charisms, ministries and ecclesial activities are like branches of the one vine — that is, of the same Lord (cf. 1 Cor 12:4-6), who pours out the Holy Spirit upon his Church. Corresponding to this organic unity is the standard that makes all forms of service in the Church good and fruitful, namely the standard of the common good (cf. v. 7).

Dear friends, to guide our discernment during these days, I would like to draw some insights from the word of God we have just heard.

First, the example of Saints Peter and Paul encourages us to share in the true freedom of faith. In fact, it is precisely our relationship with the Lord Jesus that frees us from sin and fear. As he calls us to follow him, he himself sends us out into the world as successors of the Apostles. Therefore, proclaiming the Gospel, celebrating the sacraments, and dedicating ourselves to the Lord’s flock are realized and bear fruit to the extent that we believe in him, the Good Shepherd. Faith is that virtue — never to be taken for granted — that gives life to the Church, for it is 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. And this Church bears much fruit. Thus, just as divine grace precedes human freedom, the Church’s faith precedes our own and calls for a fervent witness. This mission has Christ as its beginning and end. In the words of the psalmist, “Tell of his salvation from day to day; declare his glory among the nations” (Ps 96:2–3).

Second, we ask for the gift of peace in unity. Even as we invite all peoples to the faith in which we are truly free, international tensions and conflicts seriously wound the human family. At the same time, the Church and the world are not lacking initiatives and experiences that call for respect for human dignity, justice, the rule of law and simply for what is human. Indeed, there are many such examples. This is a source of hope, for 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. Whenever this sign is wounded, we are all wounded. Whenever it is corrupted, we all suffer. Whenever it is destroyed, we all feel torn apart. Therefore, war is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God, because, even if we are equipped with high-tech weapons, the Creator has endowed us with intelligence and free will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts. That the unity of the human family takes precedence over individual peoples and states is not merely a biological fact; it is an ethical principle. Peace is a duty of justice because we are one human family, a magnifica humanitas that finds its head and redeemer in Christ.

As we reflect on the Encyclical that I promulgated on 15 May last, we must persevere along the path outlined by Saint Paul VI, for when he “coined the phrase ‘the civilization of love,’ the world was in the midst of the Cold War, an arms race and severe economic instability. In that context, the Church proposed an alternative path to that of ideological opposition between systems, and envisioned a social order in which justice and charity are intertwined” (Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas, 186. Cf. Saint Paul VI, Regina Caeli, 17 May 1970). Indeed, this is how Christian witness becomes prophecy, evangelization and service for a new world, as well as a cultural and social project that promotes integral human development. As she proclaims the Gospel, amid both joys and persecutions, the Church is never partial, since she is for everyone, and to each she addresses the same message of conversion and salvation.

Third, today and always, let us savor harmony through obedience — that is, a listening that recognizes the gift of the Word made flesh for us. Through such listening, the Holy Spirit guides us, pointing out pastoral challenges and opportunities, purifying our intentions and correcting whatever strays from our shared path. The implementation of the Synod, to which we are committed, invites everyone to move forward in unity of faith, in promoting peace, and in obedience to Jesus, the living Word. In this light, “today’s vast and rapid cultural changes demand that we constantly seek ways of expressing unchanging truths in a language which brings out their abiding newness” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 41). The one Word made flesh is in fact expressed in all languages: Christ who died and rose again is the true vine, which bears fruit through all the cultures that Christians transform from within. Thus, as the ideologies of the world wither away, the Holy Spirit makes fraternal harmony, charity and missionary zeal flourish in the Church.

Our working together in a collegial way embodies 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 together as the baptized and as bishops. Therefore, in helping me in the exercise of the Petrine ministry, you will find in me one who asks, not commands. Moreover, the authority of primacy belongs to the one who listens and only then leads, to the one who learns and only then teaches, always following the one and only Teacher. May the intercession of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul accompany us on this enthralling journey.

THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION HAS HAD A DEATH WISH SINCE THE 1970’S AND THEIR PROGRESSIVE LIBERALISM IS PAYING THEM DIVIDENDS GALORE!

 And Pope Francis seem to admire Anglicanism as a model for His Holiness’ form of advancing the same liberal progressivism of the spirit of Vatican II but now advanced through Francis’ synodal way.

I copy this from a Facebook post, but I don’t have the author’s name:

The Episcopal Church is hoping to sell or lease its headquarters in New York City amid attendance decline and a schism in the broader Anglican Communion.

The church announced June 17 that a New York-based real estate firm will begin marketing its 12-story, multimillion-dollar Church Center for sale or lease. While the denomination counted many of America’s founders among its members and was once associated with the American elite, it has been losing members for decades.

The Episcopal Church, the American counterpart of the Church of England, had 1.5 million members in 2023, less than half its 3.6 million members in 1966. The church said it did not release 2024 membership data because a new methodology “revealed confusion” about how churches were counting congregants.

“We’ve done a detailed analysis about the best use of the building, with consultants and architects,” said Chris Lacovara, the church’s chief financial officer. “We occupy a fraction of the Church Center space now, and the conclusion is that we don’t need to own and occupy a building in midtown Manhattan.”

REASON 6,666,666,666,666,666,666,666,666,666,666,666,006 FOR A RETURN TO AD ORIENTEM EVEN IN THE BUGNINI MASS…

And while I am at it, if a bishop or priest does not wear a cassock under the alb, wear a black or white long sleeve shirt! For the love of God and all that is Holy, no naked arms revealed at Mass! 

For the life of me, I have no earthy or heavenly idea why any cardinal, bishop or priest would hold the Chalice of Precious Blood and the Body of Christ in such a fashion—for what reason? Why? 

I took a couple of photos this morning trying to do it with an empty chalice and unconsecrated host, it is really awkward and the possibility of dropping a full chalice is greatly enhanced. 

While the Bugnini Mass has flimsy rubrics, this manner of holding the Host and Chalice is not forbidden but it, in no way, is suggested or recommended or foreseen! 

Why O Lord? Why????

As an aside, many years ago in the 1980’s, I knew of a priest who would hold several Hosts in his hand as he distributed Holy Communion, like a roll of coins folded in one’s hand and using the thumb to give out Holy Communion with many Hosts in the folded hand! UGH! Why O Lord? Why????

My final comment—it’s this and these kinds of things that make people want the Vetus Ordo, where we don’t have to experience these kinds of in-your-face antics! 

EVERY PROTESTANT AND/OR SCHISMATIC SECT, NO MATTER HOW TRUTHFUL THEIR PERSPECTIVE MIGHT BE ABOUT REFORMS THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH NEEDS TO MAKE, ALWAYS THINK THEY ARE THE INFALLIBLE ONES IN LAYING OUT THAT ROAD TO REFORM AND NOT THE POPE AND BISHOPS IN UNION WITH HIM

 As Siliri non possum accurately writes in their commentary found HERE:

What stands out in this unbroken series of utterly senseless acts, which began with the announcement of episcopal consecrations, is the persistent contradiction: a principle is solemnly proclaimed, only to be denied in practice. It brings to mind other areas in which these circles are rigid in words and conspicuously lax in reality. In short, the very body that signs a profession of obedience to the Vicar of Christ is the one which, in seven days’ time, on 1 July, has announced that it will consecrate new bishops at Ecône without a papal mandate.

On 2 February, the SSPX announced that it would consecrate new bishops on 1 July without authorisation from the Holy See, a decision that will in all likelihood result in the automatic excommunication of the bishops involved. This is not a polemical opinion. It is the legal characterisation provided by the law of the Church. Under canon 1387 of the Code, a bishop who consecrates someone a bishop without a pontifical mandate, and the person who receives consecration from him, incur latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See. It is the same act which Saint John Paul II, in the case of Lefebvre, described in his 1988 motu proprio Ecclesia Dei as “an act of a schismatic nature”.

Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV 

and to the Cardinals of the Holy Church

JUNE 24, 2026, THE SOLEMNITY OF THE NATIVITY OF SAINT JOHN THE BAPTIST

Most Holy Father,

Your Most Reverend Eminences,

On the eve of the Consistory scheduled for the end of this month, and only days before the episcopal consecrations planned for 1 July at Ecône, it seems to us that the time has come for the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X to make an integral profession of the Catholic faith, which we wish to place into the hands of Your Holiness and of each of the Cardinals.

Today the Church suffers under the pressure of new forces, arising both from within and from without, which are driving her in every possible direction except—so it seems to us—the right one. Faced with such suffering, we cannot remain indifferent.

It does not belong to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X to indicate the path to be followed, but rather to the Church’s bimillennial Tradition, faithfully preserved and handed down by the Apostolic See throughout the centuries, and which many now regard, in practice, as an outdated reality, subject to continual evolution.

It is in the name of this same Tradition, and in its light alone, that we today formulate this profession of the Catholic faith in the face of the principal errors and the gravest dangers of our time.

We are convinced that Tradition contains all the remedies for the deepest evils from which the Church and the world suffer, and for which solutions are sought in vain outside it. The immutable and integral faith is the principle, the foundation, and the root of the salvation of souls. This faith, contained in Tradition and taught by the Church’s constant Magisterium, constitutes the true foundation of the Church’s unity and, consequently, the necessary means of establishing union and communion among the members of the Mystical Body of Christ.

Above the changes and vicissitudes of time stands immutable Tradition, the echo within history of eternal Truth.

We can only hope and implore that this Tradition and the purity of the faith may once again be placed at the foundation of the Church’s life, so that from them an authentic regeneration may begin. It is for this intention that we pray with insistence.

We are convinced that, within the unstable and extremely dangerous circumstances now before our eyes, the greatest contribution that can be offered to the universal Church is that of a sincere and integral profession of the Catholic faith.

We hope that one day this doctrinal text may serve as the basis for a frank discussion with the Holy See, in a peaceful, fraternal, and charitable spirit.

The text that we present to you is not the sterile litany of a group of nostalgics, but the necessary expression, peaceful yet resolute, of our faith.

Non enim possumus aliquid adversus veritatem sed pro veritate.

“For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.”

And according to the Psalmist, as taken up by Saint Paul:

Et nos credimus propter quod et loquimur.

“We too believe; therefore we speak.”

With gratitude for the attention that you will be willing to devote to this text, we assure you of our constant prayers for you and for the universal Church.

Menzingen, 24 June 2026, Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

Davide Pagliarani
Superior General

+ Alfonso de Galarreta
First Assistant General

Christian Bouchacourt
Second Assistant General

+ Bernard Fellay
First General Councillor
Former Superior General

Franz Schmidberger
Second General Councillor
Former Superior General