ROME – Pope Francis on Sunday announced a consistory in December for the creation of 21 new cardinals from all over the world, representing yet again the pope’s love of the peripheries and his inclination to reward key allies.
Speaking during his Oct. 6 Angelus address, the pope announced that “on December 8, a consistory will be held for the creation of new cardinals.” Dec. 8 is the feast of the Immaculate Conception on the church’s calendar and a public holiday in Rome, widely seen as the beginning of the Christmas season.
Francis emphasized the universality of his picks in announcing them during his traditional noontime Angelus address.
“Their provenance expresses the universality of the church, which continues to announce the merciful love of God to all men on earth,” he said.
The new cardinal-designates showcase the pope’s love of the global peripheries, featuring appointees from Peru, Ecuador, Iran, Japan, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Serbia and more.
Aside from a handful of Italians, only two of the new cardinals – Dominican preacher Timothy Radcliffe, former master general of the Dominican order, and Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto – come from the West, signaling Francis’s ongoing push to shift the leadership of the Catholic Church away from being primarily Western and towards a more global outlook.
Radcliffe is currently leading the spiritual retreats for the pope’s Oct. 2-27 Synod of Bishops on Synodality.
Francis’s new cardinal appointees also represent another instance of him handing a red hat to individuals who have been key allies in his papacy, including Radcliffe; Father Fabio Baggio, Under Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; and Monsignor George Koovakad of India, who is in charge of organizing papal trips.
Also on the list is Archbishop Carlos Castillo of Lima, who has had the challenging task of navigating fallout from the scandals surrounding the Peru-based Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), which is currently under Vatican investigation.
The full list of cardinal designates includes:
- Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, former papal ambassador
- Archbishop Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru
- Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic of Santiago del Estero, Argentina
- Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera of Guayaquil, Ecuador
- Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib of Santiago, Chile
- Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, Japan
- Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines
- Archbishop Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade, Serbia
- Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, Brazil
- Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast
- Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Alger, Algeria
- Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor, Indonesia
- Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu of Tehran, Iran
- Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, Italy
- Bishop Baldassare Reina, auxiliary bishop of Rome, former Vice-Gerent and, as of Sunday, Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome
- Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto, Canada
- Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas, Coadjutor Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major
- Bishop Mykola Bychok of the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians
- Father Timothy Radcliffe, theologian
- Father Fabio Baggio, Under Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
- Monsignor George Jacob Koovakad, Official of the Secretary of State, Responsible for Papal Trips
There are currently 236 cardinals, of whom 122 are under 80 and are therefore eligible to vote in the next conclave.
Two of those cardinals will age out by the end of the year: Venezuelan Cardinal Balthazar Porras Cardoz, former archbishop of Caracas, will turn 80 this month, and Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay and a member of Pope Francis’s Council of Cardinals advising him on matters of governance and reform, will hit the milestone in December.
With the exception of 2021 (Covid), Pope Francis has held a consistory every year of his 11-year papacy. This year’s consistory will be his 10th.
After Cardinal Sean O’Malley, former archbishop of Boston and ongoing president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors turned 80 earlier this year, there are still 10 American cardinal-electors. They include Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo of Galveston-Houston; Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago; Cardinal Timothy Dolon of New York; Cardinal William Gregory of Washington; Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego; and Cardinal Joe Tobin of Newark.
Other Americans still of voting age are Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and president of several Vatican commissions; Cardinal Michael Harvey, archpriest of the papal basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Wall in Rome; Cardinal Robert Prevost, prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Bishops; and Cardinal Raymond Burke.
Americans make up the second largest national block in the College of Cardinals after the Italians with 16, counting Italians who also serve in other countries, such as Cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Of the new appointees, all are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote for the next pope except Acerbi, who, at 99, is likely the oldest man ever to be named a cardinal, outpacing even the late Cardinal Loris Capovilla, who received the red hat at 98. Radcliffe, however, is 89, and will turn 80 next August.
Close papal friends and aides have said Francis is in good condition, despite the ailments expected at 87-years-old, and that his health does not appear to be at any immediate risk. However, he is clearly looking to further cement his legacy in the appointment of these 21 new cardinals.
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