Pope Francis wasn’t the one man sporting white through the Dec. 7 Vatican ceremony when he created 21 new cardinals.
Among these churchmen elevated to the Catholic Church’s most elite physique that may elect the subsequent pope, two had opted to forgo the normal scarlet vestments and to proceed to put on their easy white non secular habits.
It was a becoming response contemplating the marching orders the pope supplied right here on the Vatican to the boys who are actually tasked with serving as his closest collaborators.
“You will probably be a radiant signal within the midst of a society obsessive about appearances and energy,” the pope mentioned.
“Our hearts can go astray, permitting us to be dazzled by the attract of status, the seduction of energy,” he warned the boys, sometimes called “princes of the church.”
At right now’s Vatican ceremony, the pope’s chin and neck appeared bruised. The Vatican later clarified that the accidents occurred when the pontiff fell on Dec. 6 and hit his chin on his bedside desk.
Francis introduced on Oct. 6 that he would once more create new cardinals. The pope, who has repeatedly known as on church leaders to undertake life of simplicity and humility, doubled down on that message through the Dec. 7 Vatican ceremony, generally known as a consistory.
He has now named 110 of the 140 cardinals who’re underneath age 80 and eligible to take part in a future papal conclave. Twenty-four of the remaining voting age cardinals had been named by Pope Benedict XVI and 6 by Pope John Paul II.
Similar to previous cohorts, the group of 21 new cardinals displays the pope’s want to broaden the geographic range of the College of Cardinals. To date, Francis has given the cardinal’s purple hat to clergy from practically 30 nations that had beforehand by no means earlier than been represented within the choose physique.
Among the new cardinals, 10 hail from non secular orders, together with the 2 Dominicans — Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers and British Fr. Timothy Radcliffe — who acquired particular permission from the pope to proceed to put on their white habits quite than the extra ornate cardinatial regalia.
During the Vatican ceremony, the place the cardinals acquired gold rings and silk purple birettas — the pope warned his new advisers that they need to watch out for the “corrosive competitors of this world.”
Their job, the pontiff insisted, is to “stroll within the path of Jesus” by selling unity within the church.
“The Lord is trying to you, who come from completely different backgrounds and cultures, and characterize the catholicity of the Church,” Francis mentioned. “He is asking you to be witnesses of fraternity, artisans of communion and builders of unity.”
Today’s consistory of recent cardinals comes at a fragile time: Francis is simply 10 days shy of 88th birthday. Despite some underlying well being challenges and common use of a wheelchair, the pope continues to function at an brisk tempo.
But as one of many oldest popes within the Catholic Church’s two-millenia historical past, the fact that these males may sooner or later quickly be sitting within the Sistine Chapel to elect the subsequent pope was unmissable on the Vatican’s festivities.
While most of the new cardinals — like others Francis has elevated — are comparatively unknown, others have notable profiles of sharing the pope’s pastoral priorities, significantly with regards to ministering to these on the margins of the church. Among them:
- Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Japan, is the present head of CARITAS, the church’s world charitable arm;
- Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, Italy, is a theologian whose work has emphasised the necessity for the church to be open to the trendy world;
- Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, the previous head of the worldwide Dominican Order, served because the pope’s preacher through the 2023 and 2024 synods on synodality;
- Vesco, the 62-year-old Dominican archbishop of Algiers, is well-known for his pastoral outreach to divorced and remarried Catholics and fascinating in interreligious dialogue.
In an interview forward of the consistory, Vesco made clear that his elevation wouldn’t alter his conduct.
“As a cardinal, I’ll stay free to talk my thoughts,” Vesco advised the French Catholic day by day, La Croix.
The Dec. 7 ceremony marks the tenth time Francis has created new cardinals throughout his 12-year papacy. By distinction, Pope John Paul II held 9 consistories over a span of practically three many years. As of right now, Francis has named practically 80% of the boys who will sooner or later select his successor
Christopher Bellitto, a historian who has written on the historical past of the papacy, advised the National Catholic Reporter that the frequency of Francis’ consistories signifies a want to remake the school to higher mirror a extra world church.
“He desires voices from the peripheries to have a seat on the large desk within the middle, sure, but additionally to convey their considerations to the broader conversations, as occurred on the synod,” mentioned Bellitto.
“As for placing individuals who suppose like him within the faculty, which critics declare is stacking the deck: That cost is ridiculous,” Bellitto continued. “All popes — and presidents and prime ministers and principals — select like-minded advisers. Francis’ critics did not appear to thoughts when John Paul II and Benedict XVI did the very same factor.”
Here is the complete record of the 21 new cardinals:
- Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru;
- Vicente Bokalic Iglic, archbishop of Santiago Del Estero (primate of Argentina);
- Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador;
- Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib, archbishop of Santiago De Chile, Chile;
- Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Japan;
- Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines;
- Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade; Serbia;
- Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, Brazil;
- Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast;
- Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers, Algeria;
- Dominique Joseph Mathieu of Tehran Ispahan, Iran;
- Roberto Repole of Turin, Italy;
- Baldassare Reina, auxiliary bishop of Rome and vicar normal for the Diocese Of Rome;
- Francis Leo of Toronto, Canada;
- Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major;
- Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Eparchy Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia;
- Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, former grasp of the Dominican Order;
- Fabio Baggio, under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees part of the Dicastery For Promoting Integral Human Development;
- George Jacob Koovakad, official of the Vatican’s Secretary of State, accountable for journey; and
- Domenico Battaglia, archbishop of Naples, Italy.
- Angelo Acerbi, retired apostolic nuncio (At 99, Acerbi is now not eligible to take part in a papal conclave).
