Pope Francis has appointed 21 new cardinals, significantly increasing the size of the College of Cardinals and giving him more influence over the group of prelates who will one day choose his successor.
Among them are the oldest man to become a cardinal, Monsignor Angelo Acerbi, a 99-year-old retired Vatican diplomat who was once held hostage in Colombia by leftist guerrillas for six weeks, and the youngest, Bishop Mykola Bichok, 44. is included. – Former head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church in Melbourne, Australia, named in homage to the Ukraine war.
The new cardinals will receive their red hats in a ceremony known as the Constioli on December 8, the holiday that officially begins the Christmas season in Rome. This will be the 10th time a pope has named a new prince of the church, and the largest number of voting-age cardinals to enter the university during his 11-year pontificate. Acerbi is the only one over 80 years old, too old to vote for the new pope.
Normally, the University sets a cap of 120 cardinals of voting age, but as the existing cardinals age, the pope often temporarily exceeds that limit. As of September 28, there were 122 cardinal electors. So with the new additions, the number will be 142.
Francis, who became Latin America's first pope in 2013, also named the heads of several major dioceses and archdioceses in South America. They are Vicente Bocaric Iglich, Archbishop of Santiago del Estero of Argentina; Jaime Spengler, Archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Fernando Natalio Chomari Gharib, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile; Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasorio, Archbishop of Lima, Peru.
In contrast, there was only one new cardinal from North America, Francis Leo, Archbishop of Toronto.
Francis has appointed Dominique Joseph Mathieu as Archbishop of Tehran, Iran. and Pascalis Bruno Sukur, Bishop of Bogor, Indonesia. They belong to the Franciscan order and are two of the four new Franciscan cardinals.
In addition to Shukur, two more cardinals in Asia will become Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo. and Pablo Virgilio Shonco David, Bishop of Caloocan, Philippines.
Africa will have two new cardinals, Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Archbishop of Abidjan in Ivory Coast, and Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers.
“Francis again continued to expand the scope of the College of Cardinals,” said church historian Professor Christopher Berritt of Kean University in Union, New Jersey. “Like his predecessors, but even more so, he strives to give Catholic leaders on the fringes of the church a voice at the big table.”
Even before Sunday's announcement, Francis had named the majority of voting-age cardinals who would someday vote at the conference. According to Vatican statistics, 92 of the cardinals under the age of 80 were previously appointed by Francis, 24 by Pope Benedict XVI and six by St. John Paul II.
On Sunday, they were joined by two Vatican officials whose positions normally do not include the rank of cardinal. The Reverend Fabio Baggio, head of the Vatican Development Authority's migration department, and the staff member who organizes the Pope's trips abroad. , Rev. George Jacob Kouvakad.
Francis acknowledged a synod to discuss the future of the church at the Vatican this month and also named one of the synod's spiritual advisers, the British theologian the Rev. Timothy Radcliffe.
Berritto said it was “nonsense” to read the appointment of the new cardinal as an attempt by Francis to strengthen his system. “Every superintendent, chancellor and chancellor selects someone in their image to support their vision,” he said in an email.
Bychok's appointment will make him the only cardinal in Ukraine and send a delicate political message as the war in Russia rages on. Ukraine's Nuncio Andrii Yurash praised the appointment, even though Francis chose the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Australia over the Kiev-based head of the church, Sviatoslav Shevchuk. .
