Pope Francis announced on Sunday that 21 churches, representing different regions of the world, will be formally installed as cardinals at a consistory to be held in the Vatican at the end of September.
Of the 21 new cardinals, 18 are under the age of 80 and would be eligible to participate in the papal conclave to elect a new pope.
This is the ninth time the Pope has named new cardinals since he became head of the Catholic Church a decade ago.
He has now selected more than two-thirds of the more than 130 Vatican cardinals who are eligible to elect a new pope.
Increasingly, the people who will vote for whoever succeeds Francis, in the event that he resigns or dies, are the churches that match his values, priorities, and views, and share his vision for the future of the Church. Catholic.
Who did the pope appoint?
When choosing who to appoint as cardinal, Francis mostly focused on promoting clergy from developing countries, in contrast to his predecessors, whose choices were mostly eurocentric.
The new cardinals include Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Sau-yan Chow and the Vatican’s top official in the Middle East, Monsignor Pierbattista Pizzaballa of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Among the archbishops who will become cardinals are those of Juba in South Sudan, Cape Town in South Africa, and Tabora in Tanzania. Among those from Latin America are the archbishop emeritus of Cumana, Venezuela, the archbishop of Cordoba, Argentina, and a 96-year-old Capuchin priest from Buenos Aires.
“Their origin expresses the universality of the Church which continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all people on earth,” said the pope, after his weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday from the window of Apostolic Palace in Saint Peter’s Square.
Their installation ceremony, or the consistory, will be held on September 30.
Pope Francis’ last consistory was held in August 2022, and saw him announce 20 cardinals.
rmt/ (AFP, AP, Reuters)
