New cardinals — Francis has chosen men he trusts

Jul 21, 2023

Pope Francis has once again caught everyone off guard by announcing his decision to hold a consistory on September 30 during which he will create 21 new cardinals. Eighteen of those who will get the red hat are under the age of 80 and will be eligible to participate in a conclave to elect his successor. This includes Rt Rev Sebastian Francis, the Bishop of Penang.

The Pope’s list of new cardinals, which he announced on July 9 at the end of his noontime Angelus address and blessing, includes a few obvious choices but also a number of surprises.

Three new heads of Vatican offices top the list, which is customary. But there are also two papal ambassadors, representing the Holy See in the United States and Italy, who will become cardinals, something not so common.

The names read out also include Catholic leaders present on the world’s fault lines or difficult terrain, such as the bishop of Hong Kong, the archbishop of Juba (South Sudan) and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. The three future cardinals over 80 — and therefore not eligible to participate in a conclave — all share the Pope’s vision of the Church: Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, who is particularly concerned about the issue of migrants, the Venezuelan Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez and Fr Luis Pascal Dri, the Pope’s former confessor in Argentina.

After the Sept 30, ceremony there will be 137 cardinal electors, including 53 Europeans, 24 Asians, 19 Africans, 17 North Americans, 16 South Americans, five Central Americans and three Oceanians. A total of 97 will have been created by Francis, i.e. over 70 per cent of cardinals under the age of 80.

The creation of the 18 new cardinal electors by the 86-yearold Francis will put the total number of cardinal electors well above the limit of 120 set by Pope Paul VI in 1975. Both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI also exceeded that number at various points during their papacies.

The September ceremony to create new cardinals, being held on the eve of the Pope’s highly anticipated Synod of Bishops in October, will be Francis’ ninth consistory for the creation of new cardinals since his election as pontiff in March 2013. He last created new cardinals in August 2022.

Archbishop Robert Francis Prevost OSA, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops
Archbishop Prevost, who will be 68 in mid-September, was born in Chicago (USA) of a French-Italian father and a mother with Spanish origins. He joined the Augustinians in 1978 and did missionary work in Latin America before being elected the Chicago province’s superior. Elected prior general of the worldwide Order of St Augustine in 2001, he was appointed Bishop of Peru in 2014 to help pacify the country’s episcopate at a time of intense tensions. Pope Francis named him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops last April and, since taking up his duties, He has quickly earned the reputation of being a hard worker who has a perfect command of the bishops’ office.

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches
Archbishop Gugerotti, 67, has been prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches only since January. An Italian who only gradually emerged as a high-ranking Vatican diplomat. He is one of the Roman Curia’s greatest experts on the Slavic world. He is one of the Pope’s most trusted advisors, whom he consults regularly on the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, newly named prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF)
The Argentine theologian and current Archbishop of La Plata, who turns 61, has been one of the ghostwriters or contributors for all of Pope Francis’ major texts since the start of his pontificate. Some have criticised the recently named prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office (appointed on July 1) for his theological liberalism. Becoming a cardinal – which is normal for DDF prefects – will only further strengthen his position.

Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, apostolic nuncio to Italy
The 76-year-old native of Switzerland is a lifelong Holy See diplomat who has been the papal nuncio to Italy since 2017. Before this key assignment, he was nuncio in Argentina from 2012-2017 and, during that period, he got to know Pope Francis when the latter was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Tcherrig’s diplomatic career in the service of the Holy See has taken him to many countries, including Mongolia and South Korea, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, Bangladesh, Uganda and Burundi. In the late 1980s and early 90s, he also served as one of the major organisers of John Paul II’s many foreign journeys.

Archbishop Christophe Pierre, papal nuncio to the United States
The 77-year-old Frenchman and Holy See diplomat has been the apostolic nuncio in Washington since 2016. He was ordained for the Archdiocese of Rennes before studying at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the Holy See’s diplomatic school. After graduating, he went abroad in 1977, first to New Zealand to serve in the arcana of Vatican diplomacy. A succession of missions followed: Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Brazil, then the Holy See’s permanent mission to international institutions and the United Nations office in Geneva.

Pope John Paul II conferred on him the title of archbishop in 1995 when he appointed Pierre apostolic nuncio to Haiti. Appointed to Mexico in March 2007, just a few months before the opening of the Apparecida conference, the French papal diplomat saw in the easing of relations and the opening of a new pastoral approach in Latin America “a desire to continue to evangelise people who are changing in a world that is changing”.

Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The 58-year-old Italian Franciscan will be the first Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to be created a cardinal since the patriarchate was re-established in the 19th century. Pope Francis named Pizzaballa apostolic administrator of the patriarchate in 2016 and then made him Patriarch four years later. Fluent in Hebrew, Pizzaballa has also been adroit at dealing with the patriarchate’s complicated financial situation.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin of Cape Town (South Africa)
Archbishop Brislin, who will be 67 when he is created a cardinal, has led the Archdiocese of Cape Town since 2009. He was a member of the Synod of Bishops’ 2014 assembly on the family in his capacity as president of the South African Bishops’ Conference (SABC).

Archbishop Ángel Sixto Rossi SJ of Córdoba (Argentina)
An Argentine and a Jesuit like the Pope, Archbishop Rossi turns 65 next month. He’s headed the Archdiocese of Córdoba in north-central Argentina since 2021. Ordained in 1986, he took his final vows to the Society of Jesus in 1994. He holds a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and later became provincial of the Jesuit province of Argentina and Uruguay, before his appointment as archbishop.

Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogota (Colombia)
Archbishop Rueda, 61, is president of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference and primate of Colombia. He was a parish priest for 22 years in his native diocese of Socorro and San Gil, before Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Montelíbano in 2012. Francis made him archbishop of Popayan in 2018 and then transferred him to Bogotá two years later.

Archbishop Grzegorz Rys of Lodz (Poland)
Rys, 59, has been Archbishop of Lodz since 2017. He will be only the second Pole that Pope Francis has made a cardinal. A historian specialising in the Church of the Middle Ages, Archbishop Rys was involved in the canonisation process of Pope John Paul II, whose pilgrimages he commented on for Polish radio and television. A former auxiliary Bishop of Krakow, he is committed to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.

Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla of Juba (South Sudan)
Archbishop Ameyu, 59, welcomed Pope Francis to South Sudan this past February. He was one of the main organisers of the papal visit to Juba, where he has been archbishop since 2019. He has been an outspoken advocate for peace in a very troubled context. At the end of June, he invited the dioceses of South Sudan to set up reception centres for refugees from Sudan, which is in the midst of armed conflict.

Archbishop José Cobo Cano of Madrid (Spain)
Appointed Archbishop of Madrid just last month, Cobo Cano will be 58 just days before getting his red hate. Trained as a lawyer, he was ordained a priest in 1994 and became an auxiliary Bishop of Madrid in 2017. Within the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, he has been a member of the Commission for Social Pastoral Care and Human Promotion since 2020.

Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, Coadjutor Archbishop of Tabora (Tanzania)
Rugambwa, 63, was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop in his native Tanzania last April after serving more than 11 years as the secretary at the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. Ordained to the priesthood by John Paul II during the papal visit to Tanzania in 1990, Archbishop Rugambwa is known to be particularly attentive to the plight of young people in Central Africa.

Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang (Malaysia)
Bishop Francis, 71, has led the Diocese of Penang since 2012. He has been president of the Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei since 2017. He will be only the second cardinal in Malaysia.

He held the post of vice president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) and the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) from 2015 to 2017.

Bishop Sebastian is also a member of the Central Committee for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) and was appointed as the chairman of the Federation of the Asian Bishops’ Conference – Office of Social Communication on January 1, 2023.

Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan SJ of Hong Kong (China)
Bishop Chow, who turns 64 next month, will be China’s eighth cardinal. The former superior of the Jesuit province of Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China, he was appointed Bishop of Hong Kong in 2021. He is the first bishop of the diocese since 1985 to visit Beijing. His episcopal ordination, following two years of strong protests against China’s interference in Hong Kong affairs, was seen as an attempt to ease relations between the Vatican and the Chinese regime.

Bishop Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, auxiliary bishop of Lisbon (Portugal)
At 49, Bishop Alves will become one of the Catholic Church’s youngest cardinals, after already being Portugal’s youngest bishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 2001 for the diocese of Porto, he is the the current auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, who is particularly involved in communications. He has had five private meetings with Pope Francis in the last two years.

Bishop François-Xavier Bustillo OFM Conv. of Ajaccio (Corsica)
The 54-year-old Conventual Franciscan has been Bishop of Ajaccio (Corsica) since 2021. He is no stranger to Rome, since his books — one devoted to religious life in a secularised world, the other to the vocations crisis — have been read and appreciated by Pope Francis.

The Pope recently distributed one of them to all the world’s apostolic nuncios. Bishop Bustillo was in Rome at the beginning of July, along with 30 other bishops, to take part in a training course organised by the French Bishops’ Conference on the management of sexual abuse in the Church.

A native of Pamplona in the Spanish Basque country, he was superior of the convent of St Maximilien-Kolbe in Lourdes before moving to Ajaccio. Since his arrival in Corsica, he has begun a cycle of visits to all the island’s parishes. This tour, during which this calm, outspoken man meets not only Catholic leaders from the region he visits, but also political and social leaders, is expected to last “another six or seven years”.

Rev Ángel Fernández Artime SDB, rector general of the Salesians Fr Fernández
Artime, who turns 63 next month, has been rector general of the Salesians of Don Bosco since 2014. A native of Asturias, Spain, with a degree in philosophy and pedagogy, he is the tenth successor of Don Bosco and worked with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires (Argentina), when he was inspector of South Argentina in 2009. — By Loup Besmond de Senneville, LCI (https:// international.la-croix. com/)