Pope Francis recited the midday Angelus in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
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Pope Francis recited the midday Angelus in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Sunday announced he had selected 21 new cardinals, including prelates from Jerusalem and Hong Kong – places where Catholics are a minority – as he continues to left his mark on the lay community, who would choose his successor.
The pope announced his selections during his customary weekly public appearance in St Peter’s Square, saying the formal ceremony of consecrating the cardinals to the clergy would be held on June 30. September.
Among those who were wiretapped were several prelates holding or about to take up important Vatican positions, including the archbishop from La Plata, Argentina, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, 59, who has just been appointed by the Holy Father to lead the powerful office of the Holy See to ensure the legitimacy of doctrine and oversee the process. sexual abuse allegations against clerics worldwide.
The new cardinals also include Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Sau-yan Chow, 64, and top Vatican official in the Middle East, Monsignor Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 58, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
These two missionaries lead the flock in geopolitical areas of great interest to the Vatican.
On Sunday, in his speech before the announcement of the list of new cardinals, Pope Francis expressed hope that the Israeli and Palestinian authorities would conduct “direct dialogue” to end the “spin of violence.” ” – referring to recent deadly clashes.
Pope Francis has repeatedly referred to the difficulties of the Christian minority in the Middle East in recent decades.
In an April interview with the AP news agency, Pizzaballa, an Italian bishop who is the top Catholic missionary in the Holy Land, said that the region 2,000 years old Christian community has come under increasing attack, with the most right-wing government in Israel’s history encouraging extremists to harass clerics and vandalize religious property at a rapid pace.
For decades, the Vatican and China have experienced alternating tensions with improving relations due to the Communist-led nation’s insistence that it has the power to appoint bishops and imprison priests who claim loyalty. with the pope.
Earlier this year, the bishop of Hong Kong, who, like Francis, is a Jesuit, made his first visit to mainland China in nearly 30 years by a prelate in that office.
In announcing their names, Pope Francis said the appointment of cardinals from around the world “shows the universality of the Church that continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all people.” on the earth”.
The cardinals’ most important task is to choose the next pope
Pope Francis prays before the new cardinals during a conclave inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on August 27, 2022. Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he has selected 21 new cardinals. Pinky.
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Pope Francis prays before the new cardinals during a conclave inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on August 27, 2022. Pope Francis announced on Sunday that he has selected 21 new cardinals. Pinky.
Andrew Medichini/AP
The cardinals act as advisors to the pope on matters of teaching and administration, including the Vatican’s scandalous finances. But their most important task is to assemble in a secret conclave to elect the next pope.
Francis has now appointed nine new batches of cardinals in his 10 years as pope. Even before this latest group, he appointed the majority of those eligible to elect the next pope — those under the age of 80. With the latest appointments, the number of cardinals who meet that condition is 137.
That means, increasingly, the people who will vote for Pope Francis’ successor, in the event of his resignation or death, are those in the church who support his values, priorities and views. him and who share his vision for the future of the Catholic Church.
Three of the clerics were selected to receive the cardinal work in Africa, a continent on which the Church has experienced growth in recent decades. It is Monsignor Stephen Brislin, 66 years old, archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa; Monsignor Protase Rugambwa, 63, Co-Archbishop of Tabora, Tanzania; and Monsignor Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, 59, archbishop of Juba, South Sudan, where the pope visited earlier this year.
The office to which Francis appoints Fernández is traditionally headed by a cardinal. But the speed with which the archbishop of La Plata was made a cardinal publicly — eight days after the appointment — is remarkable and highlights the attention the pope has given to that office.
A US-based group that tracks how the Catholic hierarchy deals with sexual abuse allegations by clerics says Francis made a “disturbing” choice when choosing an archbishop Argentine entry, who declined in 2019. victim news who accused a priest in that archdiocese of sexually abusing boys.
Two other people holding important positions at the Vatican were also among those chosen by the pope on Sunday. It was Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, 67 years old, born in Chicago, head of the Congregation for Bishops; and Monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, 67, the Italian in charge of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches.
Also on the list are:
Monsignor Americo Manuel Alves Aguiar, an auxiliary bishop from Lisbon, Portugal, whom the pope will visit next month for a Catholic youth conference, is also on the list. At 49, he was too young for a cardinal.
Monsignor Sebastian Francis, 71 years old, Bishop of Penang, Malaysia, president of the Bishops’ Conferences of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; Monsignor Francois-Xavier Bustillo, 54 years old, a Franciscan Spaniard and a Spaniard, bishop of Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica; Monsignor Luis Jose Rueda Aparicio, 71 years old, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; and Monsignor Grzegorz Rys, 59, archbishop of Lodz, Poland.
Monsignor Emil Paul Tscherrig, 76, a Swiss bishop, is the first non-Italian to serve as papal ambassador to Italy and San Marino; and Monsignor Christopher Louis Yves Pierre, 77 years old, a Frenchman with diplomatic missions including Washington, DC
Monsignor Angel Sixto Rossi, 64 years old, Jesuit, archbishop of his native Cordoba, Argentina; Monsignor Jose Cobo Cano, 57, who was appointed by Pope Francis last month as archbishop of Madrid; and Father Angel Fernández Artime, 62, of Spain, is the principal director of the Salesian Order, an order of priests present in 133 countries.
Three of the 21 new cardinals were 80 years old or older and therefore ineligible to vote in the conclave. It was the Italian prelate, Agostino Marchetto, 82, who was the top Vatican diplomat in Belarus, Madagascar, Mauritius and Tanzania; Monsignor Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez, 84 years old, emeritus archbishop of Cumana, Venezuela; and a Franciscan priest, Luis Pascual Dri, 96, is well known for hearing confessions in the pope’s hometown of Buenos Aires and has been commended by Pope Francis for his emphasis on mercy.
