Overview
- Presiding at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV said the Church’s supreme rule is love, declaring that no one is called to dominate and all are called to serve.
- He urged synodal teams to foster communal discernment by listening to the Holy Spirit with dialogue, fraternity and parrhesia so the Church can walk together in seeking God.
- The Pope asked the faithful to reject clericalism and self-exaltation, drawing on the Gospel’s tax collector to emphasize humility, listening and shared participation.
- He said tensions such as unity versus diversity, tradition versus novelty, and authority versus participation should be purified by the Spirit and oriented toward common discernment.
- Opening sessions in the Paul VI Hall featured Cardinal Grech on converting relationships, Cardinal Ryś on becoming a poor Church for the poor, Miguel De Salis Amaral on the interdependence of ministerial and common priesthoods, and Mariana Venâncio on synodality as social prophecy with testimony from Brazil.