VATICAN CITY -- A day after closing out the 2025 Holy Year, Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday opened a new phase of his pontificate by gathering the world’s cardinals to Rome and indicating some reform-minded priorities going forward.

As of now, there are only speculations and rumors, particularly in the Italian media, about what’s on the agenda.

VATICAN CITY, Holy See-- Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday and Thursday hosts cardinals from around the world in the Vatican after calls for a more collegial governance of the Catholic Church. The meeting, known as a consistory, will be the first held by Leo since he was elected pope by fellow cardinals in May 2025 after the death of Pope Francis.

Here are some of the top Catholic moments of 2025:

Pope Leo XIV celebrated a New Year's Day Mass in St. Peter's Basilica and then delivered a special noontime prayer from his studio overlooking the piazza.

He lamented that the markets turn some human yearnings into a mere business. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

There is one agent of unity in our Catholic faith that the secular culture lacks: the bishop of Rome, says NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

Thousands of people walked down Via della Conciliazione and through St. Peter’s Square to go through the Holy Door in the Basilica before it closed Monday evening.