In announcing on Sunday that he would appoint 21 new cardinals, Pope Francis once again elevated clerics from far beyond Catholicism’s traditional centers of power, in line with his vision of a more global, less Eurocentric church. It also further cemented his imprint on the men who will one day choose his successor.
Four of those he selected were from South American countries: Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Also on the list were archbishops and bishops from Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia Iran, and two from Africa: the archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco and Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Only one North American was selected, Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto.
Francis read the list of cardinals during his Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square.
The new cardinals will be installed at a ceremony known as a consistory on Dec. 8, a feast day on the Catholic calendar.
It will be the 10th such ceremony since Francis was elected in 2013. Before Sunday, he had already named 92 of the 122 cardinals under 80, the age cutoff for voting in the conclave to elect his successor. Of the others, 24 were named by Pope Benedict XVI and six by St. John Paul II.
Francis, the first pope from South America, has diversified the College of Cardinals more than any of his predecessors, installing cardinals from more than 20 countries that had never been represented before. He has shifted membership away from Europe, acknowledging the growth of the Roman Catholic church in Africa, Asia and Latin America, even as church attendance has gradually declined in parts of Europe.
The shift was perceptible in two almost back-to-back trips last month: a tour in the Asia-Pacific region where adoring crowds greeted Francis, in some cases after walking through jungle for days to see him, and a trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, where the reception was more fraught.
Experts said the trips reflected the reality of a changing church.
Referring to Africa and Asia, Alberto Melloni, a church historian, said that Francis “is convinced that down there, the church is coming to life,” while in Europe, “the church is dying.”
On the list announced Sunday were Vatican officials who have positions that have not traditionally carried the rank of cardinal, including an official who works with migrants, the Rev. Fabio Baggio and the official who organizes Francis’ foreign trips, Monsignor George Koovakad, who was born in India.
The Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, a British theologian who is one of the spiritual advisers for a meeting underway at the Vatican this month to chart the future of the church, will also be made a cardinal.
Acknowledging the ongoing war in Ukraine, Francis also appointed Bishop Mykola Bychok, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, who at 44 will be the youngest cardinal. Dominique Joseph Mathieu, the Belgian-born bishop of Teheran-Ispahan, Iran, was also named.
In the 1970s, Pope Paul VI set a limit capping the number of cardinals who could vote for a new pope at 120. Both John Paul II and Benedict exceeded that limit; Francis did so too with his previous set of appointments, last year.
He has considerably upped that total with Sunday’s appointments: 20 of the 21 new cardinals will be under 80, increasing the chances that his successor will share his vision of a more pastoral, inclusive church.
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