Almost half of the brand new cardinals will probably be from non secular orders. What does that imply?

Rome Newsroom, Dec 6, 2024 / 16:15 pm

Out of the 21 cardinals who will probably be created Dec. 7 in Pope Francis’ tenth consistory on the Vatican, 10 new cardinals — virtually half — are members of spiritual congregations or institutes.

Since the pope himself belongs to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and has persistently thought-about the presence of males non secular within the College of Cardinals throughout his consistories, it’s not stunning that he would select new cardinals from among the many Church’s many congregations and institutes for males non secular. 

What is uncommon, nevertheless, is the big variety of cardinals from non secular orders and institutes named on this newest consistory and the variety of communities represented.

The 10 non secular are divided as follows:

• Three are Franciscans (two are Friars Minor and one Conventual).

• Two are from the Society of the Divine Word (Verbiti).

• Two are Dominicans.

• There is one every from the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (Scalabrinians), and the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists).

The new cardinals are:

• Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, OFM, metropolitan archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador (Franciscan)

• Archbishop Jaime Spengler, OFM, metropolitan archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil; president of the Brazilian Episcopal Conference; and president of Latin American Episcopal Council, CELAM (Franciscan)

• Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, Iran (Conventual Franciscan)

• Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, SVD, metropolitan archbishop of Tokyo and president of Caritas Internationalis (Society of the Divine Word/Verbiti)

• Archbishop László Német, SVD, metropolitan archbishop of Belgrade, Serbia (Society of the Divine Word/Verbiti)

• Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, metropolitan archbishop of Algiers, Algeria (Dominican)

• Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic, CM, archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina (Congregation of the Mission/Vincentians)

• Bishop Mykola Byčok, CSSR, eparch of St. Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians in Australia (Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer/Redemptorists)

• Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, former grasp common of the Order of Preachers in addition to present religious assistant of the sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Dominican)

• Father Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary for the migrants and refugees part of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo/Scalabrinians)

As famous, the brand new cardinals from non secular communities make up virtually half of the latest class and symbolize the most important group of males non secular chosen in a single consistory all through Pope Francis’ almost 12-year hold forth. The closest was in 2019, when eight of 13 new cardinals had been males non secular.

In all, out of the 163 cardinals created within the 10 consistories of his hold forth, Pope Francis has chosen 55 males non secular from greater than 20 non secular communities. He has thus averaged between 4 and 5 males non secular in every consistory.

Eight cardinals are Jesuits, together with Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and two distinguished figures of the hold forth: Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, who was additionally the relator common of the Synod on Synodality, and Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Six are Salesians, together with Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon, Myanmar, and Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero of Rabat, Morocco. The Capuchin Franciscans declare 4 members, together with Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, who led the African bishops’ opposition to Fiducia Supplicans, which permitted blessings of same-sex {couples}; and Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the longtime preacher of the Papal Household. 

Other notable cardinals on the listing are: the Redemptorist Joseph William Tobin, metropolitan archbishop of Newark, New Jersey; the Discalced Carmelite Anders Arborelius, bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, and a convert to Catholicism; the late Comboni Missionary Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, one of many main specialists in interreligious dialogue, who died on the finish of November; the Consolata Missionary Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, one of many youngest members of the College of Cardinals; and the American-born Augustinian Robert Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. 

After the most recent consistory, among the many dwelling cardinals stretching again to the hold forth of St. John Paul II, there will probably be a complete of 11 Salesians, 9 Jesuits, 5 Capuchin Franciscans, 5 Friars Minor, 4 Dominicans, three Conventional Franciscan Friars, two Spiritans, two Claretians, two Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, two Missionaries of Africa (the White Fathers), two Redemptorists, two Society of the Divine Word (Verbites), and one from every of the next communities: Eudists, Schoenstatt Fathers, Cistercians, Augustinian Recollects, Congregation of Holy Cross, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,  Discalced Carmelites, Sulpicians, Mariamite Maronites, Scalabrinians, Legionaries of Christ, Consolata Missionaries, and the Augustinians. There are additionally two members of Opus Dei. 

A query that will probably be requested, after all, is whether or not cardinals who belong to spiritual communities are extra closely represented within the College of Cardinals below Pope Francis than his quick predecessors. 

Among the 140 cardinal-electors after the conclusion of this newest consistory, there at the moment are 35 cardinals who’re non secular, that means they symbolize almost 25% of the overall physique of voters. By comparability, in 2005, on the time of John Paul II’s demise, there have been 117 cardinal-electors who had been eligible to take part within the subsequent conclave (two in the end didn’t participate). Of these 20 had been males non secular, that means they comprised 17% of the voters. 

In 2013, there have been 115 cardinal-electors eligible to participate within the election of Pope Benedict XVI’s successor after his resignation. There had been 18 males non secular among the many electors, comprising 15.5% of the voters. One of them, after all, was elected pope — the Jesuit Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who took the identify Francis. 

(Story continues beneath)

Subscribe to our every day publication

This story was based mostly on a story first revealed by ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language information associate, and has been translated and tailored by CNA.