Pope Francis announced on October 6, 2024, that he will create 21 new cardinals on December 8. Of these, 20 will be eligible to vote for a new pope.
Angelo Acerbi: The eldest Cardinal-Elect
At 99 years old, former Apostolic Nuncio Angelo Acerbi is the only cardinal-elect ineligible to vote in the next conclave.
Acerbi served as the Apostolic Pro-Nuncio in New Zealand and Apostolic Delegate for the Islands of the South Pacific from 1974 to 1979. (Edited photograph with Cardinal John Dew.)
Now retired, he resides in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta.
In addition to his association with New Zealand, Acerbi’s diplomatic career included being held hostage by guerillas in Colombia and becoming the first nuncio to Hungary after the end of communism.
During the New Zealand bishops’ Ad Limina visit to Rome in 2019, they met with Acerbi.
Then, Hamilton Bishop Stephen Lowe noted that Acerbi enjoyed good health and maintained an excellent memory.
Fr Timothy Radcliffe
Among the new cardinals is Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, a theologian and former master of the Dominicans from England.
A Cardinal working Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific
Bishop Mykola Bychok CSsR, based in Melbourne, leads the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy for Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania.
Bychok’s journey to cardinalate includes:
Ordination as a priest on May 3, 2005, in the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Lviv
Service as a missionary in Russia and as a superior and pastor in Ukraine
Appointment by Pope Francis as the Eparch of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne in January 2020
Episcopal ordination in St George’s Cathedral, Lviv, in June 2020
Installation as Bishop of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne on July 12, 2021
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