In a letter published on April 14, 2026, Pope Leo XIV announces the holding of an extraordinary consistory on June 26 and 27 of this year. This meeting of the College of Cardinals, centered on the "mission," fits into a dynamic that is now clearly identifiable: that of an assumed continuity with the orientations of the previous pontificate.
After an initial meeting in January, this new consistory confirms the intention to establish these assemblies as a regular organ of governance. But beyond the rhythm, it is above all the doctrinal line that draws attention. From the first initiatives of the new pope, one observation stands out. Far from a doctrinal rebalancing or a return to the traditional foundations of the faith, the work undertaken in Rome seems to confirm a line already widely drawn.
At the heart of the reflections proposed to the cardinals once again stands the programmatic text of Pope Francis's pontificate: *Evangelii gaudium*. This text is presented by Leo XIV as a "decisive point of reference" that remains, in his view, under-exploited. The Roman Pontiff wishes the cardinals to evaluate what has been implemented and what remains "misunderstood."
Yet, as Abbot Davide Pagliarani emphasized in a recent interview, this orientation rests on a profoundly new conception of evangelization. This consists in reducing the proclamation of the faith to what its promoters call the "kerygma," that is, to an extremely simplified formulation of the Christian message, centered on a few essential affirmations.
Such a method, appealing in its apparent simplicity, in reality relegates to the background the entire doctrinal and moral content transmitted by the Church's Tradition. What, for centuries, constituted the richness and precision of the Catholic faith thus finds itself regarded as secondary, or even as an obstacle to proclamation.
The notion of "kerygma" forms the central axis of this orientation. It involves expressing the faith in a few brief, accessible, and immediately "attractive" formulas, intended to spark a personal experience.
But this approach poses a major difficulty: it tends to dissociate the encounter with Christ from the objective truths of the faith that are nevertheless its foundation. Faith is no longer primarily adherence to a revealed content, transmitted and clarified by the magisterium over the centuries; it becomes a subjective experience, detached from the dogmatic formulations that guarantee its authenticity.
Such a perspective inevitably leads to a doctrinal impoverishment. As the Superior General of the FSSPX has pointed out, this method has already produced, under the previous pontificate, a genuine doctrinal void felt in many sectors of the Church.
In this perspective, three main dossiers must be addressed during the consistory.
The reform of the catechism is presented as a priority in the face of the erosion of faith transmission. If the stated intention may seem legitimate, one question remains: will this reform truly restore the integral teaching of the Church's doctrine and morality, or will it fit into the logic of the "kerygma," at the risk of proposing a simplified and incomplete version?
Ecclesiastical communication constitutes a second axis. In a world saturated with information, the Holy See wishes to make its message "more audible." But here again, the difficulty lies not so much in the form as in the content: effective communication cannot compensate for a doctrinal weakening.
The promotion of bishops' pastoral visits, finally, is presented as a means of fostering a "missionary boldness," while avoiding an approach deemed too administrative. However, this orientation fits into a broader vision where pastoral action tends to take precedence over doctrinal clarity.
These various initiatives take place within a more general framework: that of synodal reform. This is presented as the body responsible for discerning, according to contexts, what must be preserved or modified in the Church's teaching and practice.
In practice, this amounts to substituting evolving decisions for the constant responses of Tradition, dependent on consultative processes whose criteria remain vague. Recent experience has shown that this mode of operation can lead to gravely problematic orientations on the doctrinal and moral levels. The danger is twofold: on the one hand, a weakening of the content of the faith; on the other, a growing instability in its expression and application.
The reduction of the Christian proclamation to a minimal core presents an obvious advantage in an ecumenical perspective. By limiting itself to very general affirmations—the love of God, salvation in Jesus Christ—it becomes easier to find common ground with the Orthodox and Protestants.
But this apparent unity comes at the price of integral truth. For what precisely makes the specificity of the Catholic faith—its precise doctrinal content, its theological coherence, its demanding morality—tends to disappear from the discourse. The result is a form of unity without depth, based not on the fullness of truth, but on a reduction of it to its most minimal expression.
The consistory announced for June 2026 thus appears as an additional step in a process already well underway: that of a progressive transformation of the very conception of the Church, of its magisterium, and of its mission.
Behind the themes of "mission" and "communication" looms in reality a profound mutation: a Church where doctrine tends to fade before experience, where Tradition is relegated to the background, and where magisterial authority dissolves into evolving processes.
Faced with these developments, it appears more necessary than ever to recall that the Church's true mission cannot be conceived without the integral transmission of the faith, as it was received from the apostles and faithfully preserved over the centuries. For diminishing the truth does not make it more accessible, but without integral transmission, it truly leads souls to Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Translation courtesy of @FSSPXFR on Twitter/X
https://x.com/fsspxfr/status/2046509571628314769?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
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