Leo XIV’s Consistory Theater: Collegiality as Conciliar Control
Pillar Catholic portal reports on the “extraordinary consistory” convened by the antipope Leo XIV (Robert Prevost), analyzing how his choices for these meetings reveal his intended style of governance over the conciliar sect. The article details the format of the two-day gathering, which includes small group discussions on broad themes like “international affairs” and “evangelization,” culminating in an open “dialogue” between the cardinals and the antipope. The author contrasts this with the approach of his predecessor, Francis, noting that while Francis dispensed with extraordinary consistories almost entirely, favoring a small hand-picked council of advisors (the C9), Leo XIV appears to prefer engaging the entire College of Cardinals. The article frames this as a shift toward “collegiality,” suggesting the antipope is interested in “hearing whatever wants to be said” and “gauging actual consensus” among the global hierarchy. This supposed openness, however, merely masks the continuation of the post-conciliar revolution, replacing one mechanism of modernist control with another more palatable to those yearning for the pre-1958 order.

