Pope Francis revealed his selections during his regular weekly appearance to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday (9th July). The clergymen chosen will receive the cardinal’s red three-cornered biretta hat from the Pope during a consistory scheduled to take place on September 30th inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.
Among the 21 new cardinals, three come from Africa, a continent where the Church has experienced significant growth in recent decades. Father Stephen Brislin, aged 66 and the archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Father Protase Rugambwa, aged 63 and the co-adjutor archbishop of Tabora, Tanzania, and Father Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, aged 59 and the archbishop of Juba, South Sudan, were chosen. Pope Francis had previously visited Juba earlier this year.
Highlighting the universality of the Church and its mission to spread God’s merciful love to all people on Earth, Francis stated that the appointment of cardinals from different parts of the world exemplifies this idea.
Cardinals play a crucial role as advisers to the Pope on matters related to teaching and administration, including the Vatican’s well-known financial issues. Additionally, they convene in a secret conclave to select the next pontiff.
Other individuals on the list include Father Americo Manuel Alves Aguiar, a 49-year-old auxiliary bishop from Lisbon, Portugal, who will be visited by the Pope next month for the World Youth Day—an event that generally attracts over one million young Catholic Christians. Also included are Father Sebastian Francis, aged 71 and the bishop of Penang, Malaysia, who heads the bishops conference of Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei; Father Francois-Xavier Bustillo, aged 54 and a Franciscan and native Spaniard serving as the bishop of Ajaccio, located on the French island of Corsica; Father Luis Jose Rueda Aparicio, aged 71 and the archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; and Father Grzegorz Rys, aged 59 and the archbishop of Lodz, Poland.
The list further comprises Father Emil Paul Tscherrig, aged 76, a Swiss prelate who became the first non-Italian to serve as papal ambassador to Italy and San Marino, and Father Christopher Louis Yves Pierre, aged 77, a Frenchman who held diplomatic postings, including in Washington, D.C.
Other cardinals include Father Angel Sixto Rossi, aged 64 and a Jesuit serving as the archbishop of Cordoba, Argentina; Father Jose Cobo Cano, aged 57, who was recently appointed by Francis as the archbishop of Madrid; and Reverend Angel Fernández Artime, aged 62, a Spaniard who serves as the rector major of the Salesians, a congregation dedicated to educating youth across 133 countries.
Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, aged 67 and originally from Chicago, heads the Dicastery for Bishops, while Monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, aged 67 and an Italian, is in charge of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.
Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández, aged 59, from La Plata, Argentina, has been named by the Pope to lead the Holy See’s powerful office for ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy and overseeing the processing of allegations of sexual abuse against clergy worldwide. However, his appointment has been met with caution due to criticism. A U.S.-based group that monitors the Catholic hierarchy’s response to allegations of sexual abuse by clergy expressed concerns over the Argentine archbishop’s appointment, as in 2019, he disbelieved victims who accused a priest in his archdiocese of sexually abusing boys.
The remaining individuals on the list are Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Sau-yan Chow, aged 64, and Monsignor Pierbattista Pizzaballa, aged 58, the Vatican’s highest-ranking official in the Middle East and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Three of the new cardinals are over 80 years old, making them ineligible to vote in a conclave. They are Italian prelate Agostino Marchetto, aged 82, who previously served as the top Vatican diplomat in Belarus, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Tanzania; Father Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez, aged 84, the archbishop emeritus of Cumana, Venezuela; and a 96-year-old Franciscan priest, Luis Pascual Dri, known for hearing confessions in Pope Francis’ hometown of Buenos Aires and commended by the Pope for emphasizing mercy.
With the appointment of these new cardinals, Pope Francis has now named nine groups of cardinals during his ten-year papacy. Prior to this recent selection, he had already appointed the majority of those eligible to participate in the election of the next pope, comprising individuals under the age of 80. As a result of the latest appointments, the number of cardinals meeting this criterion now stands at 137.
