“I am happy to announce that on
June 29, I will hold a consistory (ceremony) to make 14 new cardinals,”
Francis said, in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s
Square.
“The countries of provenance
express the universality of the church, which continues to announce the
merciful love of God to all men on Earth,” Francis added. Then he
revealed his picks to be the latest “princes of the church,” including
from Africa, elsewhere in Asia, and South America, as he continues to
make the College of Cardinals less European than it had been in
centuries past. Among the new cardinals is Louis Raphael I Sako, the
Baghdad-based patriarch of Babylonia of the Chaldeans. Also to be made
cardinal is Joseph Coutts, archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan.
Francis has repeatedly
highlighted the plight of Christians persecuted and even slain for their
faith in areas where Islamic fundamentalists have targeted them.
Two top Vatican officials will
also receive the honor of joining churchmen who vote for new popes in
secret conclaves. They are Spanish Monsignor Luis Ladaria, who heads the
Holy See’s powerful office in charge of ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy,
and, like the pope, is a Jesuit; and Italian Monsignor Giovanni Angelo
Becciu, the No. 2 in the influential secretariat of state office. Becciu
is also special delegate to the recently troubled Sovereign Military
Order of Malta.
Another Italian to be made
cardinal is a Rome vicar general, Monsignor Angelo De Donatis. The pope,
while leader of the entire Roman Catholic church, also serves as Rome’s
top bishop. Francis’ choice of Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, a
good-natured Pole who personally has handed out sleeping bags to
homeless on frigid Roman nights and driven poor people to seaside day
trips paid for by the Vatican, reflects the pontiff’s determination to
make the Catholic Church known for its attention to those on life’s
margins.
Others tapped to be cardinals
include: Monsignor Antonio dos Santos Marto, bishop of Fatima, Portugal;
Monsignor Pedro Barreto, archbishop of Huancayo, Peru; Monsignor Desire
Tsarahazana, archbishop of Toamasina, Madagascar; Monsignor Thomas
Aquinas Manyo, archbishop of Osaka, Japan; and Monsignor Giuseppe
Petrocchi, archbishop of L’Aquila, the Italian mountain town still
struggling to recover from an earthquake in 2009.
Francis cited three other
churchmen he said he chose because “they have distinguished themselves
for their service to the church.”
They are Emeritus Archbishop of
Xalapa, Mexico, Sergio Obeso Rivera; Monsignor Toribio Ticona Porco, a
prelate from Corocoro, Bolivia; and a Spanish priest, Aquilino Bocos
Merino. The three are all over 80, so will not be eligible to vote for
the next pope.
Pope Francis announced on
Sunday he has chosen 14 men to be the newest cardinals in the church,
among them his chief aide for helping Rome’s homeless and poor, as well
as prelates based in Iraq and Pakistan, where Christians are a
vulnerable minority.
“I am happy to announce that on
June 29, I will hold a consistory (ceremony) to make 14 new cardinals,”
Francis said, in remarks to pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s
Square.
“The countries of provenance
express the universality of the church, which continues to announce the
merciful love of God to all men on Earth,” Francis added. Then he
revealed his picks to be the latest “princes of the church,” including
from Africa, elsewhere in Asia, and South America, as he continues to
make the College of Cardinals less European than it had been in
centuries past. Among the new cardinals is Louis Raphael I Sako, the
Baghdad-based patriarch of Babylonia of the Chaldeans. Also to be made
cardinal is Joseph Coutts, archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan.
Francis has repeatedly
highlighted the plight of Christians persecuted and even slain for their
faith in areas where Islamic fundamentalists have targeted them.
Two top Vatican officials will
also receive the honor of joining churchmen who vote for new popes in
secret conclaves. They are Spanish Monsignor Luis Ladaria, who heads the
Holy See’s powerful office in charge of ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy,
and, like the pope, is a Jesuit; and Italian Monsignor Giovanni Angelo
Becciu, the No. 2 in the influential secretariat of state office. Becciu
is also special delegate to the recently troubled Sovereign Military
Order of Malta.
Another Italian to be made
cardinal is a Rome vicar general, Monsignor Angelo De Donatis. The pope,
while leader of the entire Roman Catholic church, also serves as Rome’s
top bishop. Francis’ choice of Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, a
good-natured Pole who personally has handed out sleeping bags to
homeless on frigid Roman nights and driven poor people to seaside day
trips paid for by the Vatican, reflects the pontiff’s determination to
make the Catholic Church known for its attention to those on life’s
margins.
Others tapped to be cardinals
include: Monsignor Antonio dos Santos Marto, bishop of Fatima, Portugal;
Monsignor Pedro Barreto, archbishop of Huancayo, Peru; Monsignor Desire
Tsarahazana, archbishop of Toamasina, Madagascar; Monsignor Thomas
Aquinas Manyo, archbishop of Osaka, Japan; and Monsignor Giuseppe
Petrocchi, archbishop of L’Aquila, the Italian mountain town still
struggling to recover from an earthquake in 2009.
Francis cited three other
churchmen he said he chose because “they have distinguished themselves
for their service to the church.”
They are Emeritus Archbishop of
Xalapa, Mexico, Sergio Obeso Rivera; Monsignor Toribio Ticona Porco, a
prelate from Corocoro, Bolivia; and a Spanish priest, Aquilino Bocos
Merino. The three are all over 80, so will not be eligible to vote for
the next pope.
