Cardinal Raymond Burke has raised serious concerns about the use of “synodality” in a recent consistory of cardinals, warning that the current methodology risks undermining open debate within the Sacred College and obscuring critical issues facing the Church.
Speaking to The College of Cardinals Report on June 28, following the June 26–27 consistory convened by Pope Leo, Cardinal Burke welcomed the renewed gathering of cardinals, something he noted had not occurred for many years under Pope Francis, and described the opportunity for greater fraternal exchange as a “very great fruit.”
But he also expressed concern that the structure of the meeting limited meaningful discussion as it had adopted a format modeled on “synodal” processes, with cardinals divided into small groups and guided by preset questions.
He argued that this approach prevented in-depth engagement and reduced feedback to consensus-based summaries, potentially excluding dissenting but important viewpoints from reaching the Pope.
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“The reports are only reports of what every cardinal agreed upon,” Cardinal Burke said, adding that perspectives not shared by a majority may be omitted despite their significance.
He described a final session conducted in the traditional open-debate format as the most productive part of the gathering, although limited by time. The free discussion, in the presence of the Pope, was how past consistories of cardinals were undertaken.
Overall, he said the consistory was a “very controlled” process, including the apparent pre-selection of discussion leaders and limited opportunities for free intervention. In his view, this risked diminishing the role of cardinals as advisors to the Pope.
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