[ad_1]
ROME — Pope Francis introduced Sunday that he would create 21 new cardinals in August, deciding on clerics from all corners of the world to strengthen the church’s international attain, as he has finished with previous decisions to the rank of cardinal.
“Allow us to pray for the brand new cardinals, that by confirming their adherence to Christ, they are going to assist me in my ministry as bishop of Rome for the great of all God’s trustworthy,” Francis stated Sunday after giving the names of the soon-to-be cardinals on the finish of his conventional greetings to 1000’s of Roman Catholic trustworthy in St. Peter’s Sq..
The listing of latest “princes of the church,” as cardinals are referred to as, consists of prelates from Brazil, East Timor, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Paraguay, Singapore and South Korea, denoting a deliberate shift away from Europe, the cradle of cardinals for hundreds of years. Eight Europeans did make the listing, although solely 4 are eligible to vote for Francis’ successor, whereas the one North American is Msgr. Robert McElroy, a bishop from San Diego.
The School of Cardinals is liable for the election of a pope, and its composition naturally impacts the number of future pontiffs. That is the ninth set of cardinals that Francis has tipped for a “pink hat,” and of the 21 males, 16 are underneath 80, the cutoff age to vote on a brand new pope as soon as Francis dies or retires. 5 of his picks are too outdated to vote, together with three from Italy, one from Belgium and one from Colombia.
Within the Seventies, Pope Paul VI set a restrict capping the variety of cardinals who may vote for a brand new pope at 120. That didn’t deter Pope John Paul II from exceeding that restrict in 2001, although the quantity was again right down to 115 by the point he died in 2005.
Francis has promoted a pastoral imaginative and prescient of the Roman Catholic Church, one which nurtures mercy and inclusion and reaches out to the poor and the marginalized, together with those that are additionally probably the most susceptible to the influence of local weather change, one other of the pope’s issues.
After the consistory — because the ceremony to put in the brand new cardinals is thought — on Aug. 27, Francis may have appointed 83 of the longer term cardinal electors, growing the chance that his successor will replicate a minimum of components of that imaginative and prescient. Of the remaining 50 cardinals, 12 had been appointed by John Paul II and 38 by Benedict, in line with Vatican statistics.
On the listing of latest cardinals are Archbishop Arthur Roche of Britain, who final Could changed Cardinal Robert Sarah as head of the Vatican’s liturgy workplace; Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik of South Korea, who was appointed head of the Vatican’s clergy workplace final June; and Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga of Spain, who governs the Vatican Metropolis-State. There may be additionally a missionary priest, the Italian-born Bishop Giorgio Marengo, at present apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, who at 48 would be the youngest member of the School of Cardinals.
In making his choices, now and in earlier consistories, Francis has been upending centuries of custom by selecting cardinals from cities which have by no means earlier than had cardinals. It was once that changing into archbishop of a significant metropolis like Venice, Milan, Los Angeles or Philadelphia, was an nearly sure steppingstone to changing into a cardinal. At the moment not one of the archbishops of those cities are cardinals.
“That simply isn’t the sample anymore with Francis; he appoints folks from locations that by no means had cardinals earlier than, and that’s revolutionary,” the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a senior analyst for Faith Information Service who has written books concerning the Roman Catholic hierarchy, stated in a phone interview. “He seems for the person who he thinks will contribute one of the best to the church and that helps his imaginative and prescient of the place the church ought to go.”
On Sunday, Francis named prelates from far-flung locations, together with the Franciscan archbishop of Manaus, Brazil, Leonardo Ulrich Steiner; Peter Ebere Okpaleke, who in 2020 grew to become the primary bishop of Ekwulobia, a brand new diocese in Nigeria; and Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, archbishop of Goa and Daman, India.
Bishop McElroy would be the first cardinal for the Diocese of San Diego and is a longtime supporter of Francis’ pastoral agenda, in line with Catholic media. He has additionally expressed assist for permitting girls to be deacons and for improved ministry towards gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender folks.
Two years in the past, Francis made Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, a cardinal, elevating the primary African American to the School of Cardinals
On Sunday, Francis additionally introduced that he would convene all the church’s cardinals on Aug. 29 and 30 to “replicate on” the structure that he launched this yr to control the paperwork that runs the Roman Catholic Church.
[ad_2]
Source link
