The announcement was made only days before Christmas, although the meeting itself had been widely known and reported since November.
Now, The Catholic Herald looks at what an extraordinary consistory is, why this one matters, what has so far been said by Vatican officials, and what can be expected as the cardinals gather in Rome in early January.
A consistory is a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals convened by the Pope to assist him in the governance of the universal Church.
Historically, it has been one of the principal means by which popes have consulted their closest collaborators on matters of doctrine, discipline, and ecclesial government.
The term itself comes from the Latin con-sistere, meaning “to stand together”, reflecting its original purpose as a forum for shared counsel.
There are two types of consistory.
An ordinary consistory is generally ceremonial and normally attended only by cardinals resident in Rome. It is most often associated with the creation of new cardinals, the assignment of titular churches, or the approval of canonisations.
An extraordinary consistory, by contrast, requires the participation of the entire College of Cardinals from around the world and is convened to address “particular needs of the Church or matters of special gravity”, as set out in the Code of Canon Law. It is explicitly consultative in nature and is one of the few occasions, outside a conclave, when all cardinals meet together.
The last extraordinary consistory to shape the direction of a pontificate was held in February 2014 under Pope Francis, when Cardinal Walter Kasper delivered a lengthy address on marriage and the family ahead of the Synod on the Family.
In the speech he suggested that there may be circumstances in which the divorced and remarried could be admitted to Holy Communion.
The intervention provoked immediate and public resistance from several senior cardinals, including Cardinal Gerhard Müller, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who insisted that sacramental Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried was impossible.
“The dogma of the Church is not just any theory made by some theologians, but it is the doctrine of the Church, nothing less than the word of Jesus Christ, which is very clear. I cannot change the doctrine of the Church,” he said at the time.
In a briefing to journalists, the then director of the Holy See Press Office, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ, explained that the gathering was designed to help cardinals face “with realism and in depth all that is beautiful about the family without eluding its problems”.
Due to the nature of the consistory and the intensity of the debate, Fr Lombardi stressed that the text of the address would not be published, as it was intended solely for internal discussion among participants. He described it as an “opening” rather than a comprehensive treatment of the issues later addressed by the Synod.
Pope Francis only convened one extraordinary consistory during his twelve year pontificate, a fact that drew repeated criticism from cardinals who complained of limited collegial consultation.
The extraordinary consistory of January 2026 will be the first time that most of the cardinals have been together in the same room since the conclave that elected Leo XIV. Prior to the conclave, many had little opportunity to meet or exchange views.
The upcoming gathering will therefore be both a practical and symbolic moment of unity, as Pope Leo brings together a College that is still, in many respects, unfamiliar with itself.
According to the Holy See Press Office statement issued on 20 December, the two day meeting will include “moments of communion and fraternity, as well as times dedicated to reflection, sharing and prayer”.
These moments, the statement said, are intended to “offer support and advice to the Holy Father in the exercise of his high and demanding responsibility in the governance of the universal Church” and to strengthen communion between the Bishop of Rome and the cardinals.
Italian newspapers were the first to shed light on the substance of the meeting. Writing in Il Giornale, Vatican journalist Nico Spuntoni noted that what initially surprised observers was the absence of any stated motivation when the consistory was first announced.
“What had surprised observers about this convocation was the absence of any stated motivation, an anomaly compared to the past,” he wrote, adding that a letter from the Pope would soon arrive setting out the agenda.
That letter, sent to cardinals in mid December and signed on 12 December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, has since become central to understanding the meeting.
According to LifeSiteNews, Spuntoni explained that the consistory would address three main themes: the role of the College of Cardinals in Pope Leo’s governance, synodality, and what he described as “liturgical peace”.
The same report noted that Leo XIV had asked cardinals to prepare by rereading Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium and studying the apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium, the document that reformed the Roman Curia in 2022.
Spuntoni later told LifeSiteNews that the invitation contained no explicit reference to the Traditional Latin Mass, noting instead a general reference to liturgy. This, he said, suggested that the discussion would be broader and not limited to tensions between traditionalist and reformist Catholics.
Further confirmation came from Crux, where Vatican correspondent Elise Ann Allen reported that the meeting would take place immediately after the formal conclusion of the Jubilee of Hope, with the closing of the Holy Door on the feast of the Epiphany.
She wrote that the consistory “will undoubtedly give the cardinals, and the world, key insight into the mind and priorities of the new pope”, while warning that it could also prove challenging given the breadth of the subjects under discussion and the limited time available.
Allen reported that in his Christmas letter to the cardinals, Pope Leo outlined four major points for discussion, with a likely focus on two themes per day.
These included a renewed reflection on Evangelii gaudium “for a renewed and joyful impetus in proclaiming the Gospel”, an in depth study of Praedicate evangelium with particular attention to the relationship between the universal and particular Churches, synodality as an instrument of effective cooperation with the Roman Pontiff, and a detailed theological, historical, and pastoral reflection on the liturgy, citing Sacrosanctum Concilium.
Importantly, Crux emphasised that the liturgical question should not be read in isolation. Allen noted that while liturgy has become a flashpoint in recent years, particularly after Traditionis custodes, the Pope’s letter situated it within a broader agenda focused on ecclesial communion, evangelisation, and governance.
The Holy See Press Office has been careful to stress continuity with tradition rather than rupture.
In its December statement, it described the consistory as situated “within the context of the life and mission of the Church”.
Yet it is an unmistakable fact that it will also mark a moment of transition.
News of the planned meeting first emerged on 6 November, when the Vatican Secretariat of State sent a brief communication to cardinals stating that “Holy Father Leo XIV has in mind to convene an extraordinary consistory for the days of January 7 and 8, 2026”.
At the time, Holy See Press Office director Matteo Bruni said that the press office had not yet publicly confirmed its existence.
That initial reticence has only heightened interest, and the meeting will be watched as a concrete test of Leo XIV’s ability to deal with the internal factions within his own College of Cardinals.
What is clear is that the extraordinary consistory is not merely a procedural event convened for form’s sake.
Rather, it is the first major institutional act through which Pope Leo XIV will seek to unite a geographically and ideologically diverse College, to listen to it, and to define how he intends to govern with it.