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Pope Francis has named 13 new cardinals, including 10 who will be eligible to vote in a future conclave.
The cardinals-elect will be installed at next month’s consistory.
Many of those the pope named have reputations as progressives on social issues such as immigration and share his support of dialogue with non-Christians.
Several come from poor or developing nations, places Francis calls the periphery of the Church and which he feels deserve more attention.
“Their origin expresses the missionary vocation of the Church, which continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all people on earth,” Francis says.
The cardinals-elect are:
- Canadian Jesuit Fr Michael Czerny, the head of the Migrants and Refugees section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. His selection reflects Francis’s defence of immigrants
- Spanish Archbishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, whose selection reflect the significance Francis attaches to relations with Islam
- Portuguese Archbishop José Tolentino Mendonca, librarian of the Holy Roman Church
- Democratic Republic of Congo – Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa
- Morocco – Archbishop Cristobal Lopez Romero of Rabat – another whose selection reflects Francis’s strong relations with Islam
- Indonesia – Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta – yet another whose selection reflect Francis’s strong relations with Islam
- Cuba – Archbishop Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez of Havana
- Archbishop Jean Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, who has taken strong stands against Europe’s populist leaders, saying they are fomenting fear of migrants and Muslims
- Matteo Zuppi of Bologna who opened the doors of the basilica for the homeless to sleep inside on cold winter nights
- Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, emeritus of Nepte in Tunisia and former president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
- Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, emeritus of Kaunas in Lithuania, who was arrested and persecuted under the Soviet regime
- Bishop Eugenio Dal Corso, emeritus of Benguela in Angola, where he was a missionary
Francis’s aim to give the prestigious and influential rank of “Cardinal” to priests from poor or developing nations is moving the make-up of the College of Cardinals away from Europe to Africa, Asia and Latin America.
In doing so, he is increasing the possibility that his successor also will be a non-European.
Source
- CBC
- CNA
- Reuters
- Image: Catholic World Report
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News category: World.
