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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV's second consistory gave cardinals from around the world an opportunity to candidly discuss issues ranging from synodality and artificial intelligence to the future of Catholic teaching on war, some participants told Catholic News Service.

The June 26-27 meeting brought together 178 cardinals to discuss Pope Leo's first encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas", implementation of the final document on synodality and the Church's response to modern challenges. Interviews afterward suggested the College of Cardinals had substantive discussions on war, and the pope's repeated calls for honest dialogue within the Church. 

One of the most closely watched topics was Pope Leo's declaration in "Magnifica Humanitas" that the traditional "just war" theory is "now outdated."

"It was meant to be a constraint on war, not an endorsement of going to war," Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington told CNS in an interview in Rome June 29.

Opening the first day of the consistory, Pope Leo condemned war as "never blessed by God."

"Therefore, war is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God, because, even if we are equipped with high-tech weapons, the Creator has endowed us with intelligence and free will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts," he said in his June 26 homily to the cardinals. 

Developed through the writings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, just-war theory has long held that military force can be morally justified only under strict conditions, including self-defense, legitimate authority, proportionality and the exhaustion of peaceful alternatives. The teaching has resurfaced in recent debates surrounding conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Cardinal McElroy said Pope Leo's reflection builds on decades of development in Catholic teaching, with previous popes having narrowed the circumstances under which war could be considered morally legitimate because of the destructive power of modern weapons and the immense human cost of armed conflict.

"So I think Pope Leo is bringing to bear that question now, with all this trajectory of trying to narrow the criteria for going to war," he said.

The cardinal said he believed there was broad agreement among participants that the traditional just-war framework no longer serves a productive role, while acknowledging the Church still must articulate clearly when the use of military force can be morally legitimate.

"Because I think one of the big problems is the Church has come to the recognition that basically no war is just, and it's a wrong use of terms," he said. "But there are times when military force is morally legitimate."

He said governments have increasingly treated just-war theory as a flexible political justification rather than the Church's intended "strict set of moral conditions."

Rather than revisiting the topic at future consistories, Cardinal McElroy said he expects further theological study to help refine the Church's teaching since it has become clear just-war theory has often become "a very elastic set of criteria that can easily be manipulated by governments."

Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo told CNS June 29 that several participants even proposed issuing a collective statement supporting Pope Leo's position on war. Because not all cardinals were present, however, the idea was set aside, and bishops' conferences were encouraged instead to express support in their own countries.

Another major focus of the discussions was implementing synodality throughout the Church.

Cardinal McElroy said the discussions centered not on adding another program to parish life but on allowing "the principles and the culture of synodality" to permeate every level of the Church, particularly decision-making.

He said implementation has progressed unevenly around the world, in part because synodality became associated with several controversial issues debated during the Synod on Synodality.

"A number of people who didn't like the movement that was going on in those particular issues became resistant to the wider movement," he said.

This consistory, he said, instead focused on bringing synodality "into the heart of the life of the Church" at the universal, diocesan and parish levels.

Cardinal Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda, agreed that the discussions reflected different perspectives. Asked whether there was disagreement over the meaning of synodality, he replied: "Yes, but that is part of synodality, to march through together."

Artificial intelligence also featured prominently in the discussions surrounding "Magnifica Humanitas.' Cardinal McElroy said the cardinals devoted significant attention to the encyclical and the challenges AI presents for the Church, while Vatican summaries of the working sessions showed participants framing the issue primarily through the lens of human dignity, the common good and Catholic social teaching.

Overall, the U.S. cardinal said the consistories give cardinals an opportunity to help the pope discern "where the call of the Church is, and the Spirit is leading us" on issues facing the universal Church.