ROME – Pope Leo XIV met with consecrated men and women from all over the world Friday, telling them to be witnesses of hope and to continue reflecting on and following the path of synodality, a major theme of the Francis era.

Speaking in an Oct. 10 audience for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, the pope invited men and women religious “to reflect on a topic important for the Church in our time: synodality, encouraging you to remain faithful to the path which we are all following in this direction.”

To this end, he quoted a 1964 speech from Pope Paul VI, saying, “how we would like to enjoy this domestic dialogue in the fullness of faith, charity and works! How intense and familiar we would like it! How sensitive to all the truths, virtues, and realities of our doctrinal and spiritual heritage! How sincere and moving in its genuine spirituality! How ready to gather the many voices of the contemporary world! How capable of making Catholics truly good, wise, free, serene and strong men!”

This is the kind of ‘domestic dialogue’ that the work of religious entails today, he said, especially through their own personal lifestyles and their diverse membership.

The pontiff’s remarks on synodality were a distinctly Leonine riff on a keystone theme of his predecessor’s pontificate, one observers thought would be buried with the Argentine Pope Francis.

Synodality became a hallmark of Francis’s reign, and his 2021-2024 Synod of Bishops on Synodality is considered by many to be the capstone of his pontificate, encapsulating his whole vision for the Catholic Church’s internal dynamics and role in the modern world.

Leo mentioned synodality in remarks to the faithful from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on the evening of his election, saying, “we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that moves forward, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close above all to those who are suffering.”

In that brief line alone, Leo outlined his priority of peacemaking and his pastoral instincts in terms of social charity, on which he recently expanded in his new apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, on the church’s care for the poor.

Published Oct. 9, the exhortation was begun by Pope Francis and completed by Leo XIV after his election.

What Leo has made clear in his five months as pope is that he very much intends to carry forward the legacy of synodality with a commitment to loyalty on the substance, attention to its deeper ecclesiastical roots, and flexibility on the ways and means of its implementation, making it his own.

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In his speech to consecrated men and women, he not only urged them to embrace and continue the path of synodality, but to be witnesses of hope in troubled times.

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