2023-09-28 11:06:37
In the ceremony called consistory, which will take place this Saturday, the pontiff will also create another 20 cardinals, including five Latin Americans.
Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals this Saturday, among them, five Latin Americans, that the majority will be able to choose the successor of the Argentine Jesuit or become the new pontiff. The ceremony will be in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, and is the ninth of Francis’ papacy since his election in 2013.
(You may be interested: Pope Francis affirmed that helping migrants is “a duty of humanity”)
The event will be closely followed by observers in search of clues regarding the direction of the Catholic Church, due to the advanced age of Francis (86 years), who does not rule out resigning from office as his predecessor Benedict XVI did if his state of health declines. health.
Francis, the first pope from America, will include five Latin American cardinals on this occasion, but only three will be electors.
One of them is the archbishop of Bogotá, the Colombian Luis José Rueda Aparicio, whom the Argentine pope appointed archbishop of the Colombian capital on April 25, 2022.. The prelate assures that Francisco feels “very close” and is always up to date with what is happening in Colombia.
“He [Francisco] I went to Bogotá a lot because it is the headquarters of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). Therefore, as archbishop of Buenos Aires, he traveled to Bogotá many times for meetings and that allowed him to get to know the reality of Colombia in such a way that when we come he always asks us,” said the archbishop.
“He knows everything, with proper names, he asks for the President of the Republic and has him in his mind and heart, and he knows regarding the armed groups and the processes that are taking place. He knows the wounds of our country’s history. He prays for us and he is very close, he loves Colombia very much and in Colombia we deeply love Pope Francis“he added.
Rueda Aparicio, who recalled the Pope’s historic visit to Colombia in 2017, highlights Francis “who speaks with his way of being, with his word, with his verbal message, but above all with the signs that he performs with the poor nearby.” , of hope, of brotherhood.”
For the Colombian archbishop, the function of the cardinal is “not to be an instrument of fracture and division, but rather to strengthen the communion so that from communion we can serve him from the five continents.”
And he assures that he will offer his service even more so that the pope, “moved by the Holy Spirit, continues to be the prophet of our time, the man of hope, the man of fraternity, the man of the poor in the name of the Church.” ”. Faced with the possibility of participating in the future conclave to elect Francis’s successor, he comments that what he feels is “responsibility.”
Regarding what characteristics the next pontiff should have, the Colombian archbishop explains: “Docile to the Holy Spirit. With the capacity for discernment and with a sincere capacity for service to all, that is, a style similar to the last popes who have been able to read the historical moment of humanity and the Church to put themselves at the service of the will of God.”
While regarding the priorities of the Church, he lists: “evangelization”, “being a servant to others” and “the construction of universal brotherhood”, as well as two very important issues for Colombia, “the immigration issue that leads us to commit to them” and the “commitment to the common home and to climate change.”
The other bishops who will be cardinals
Next to the Colombian is also the Venezuelan Diego Rafael Padrón Sánchez, archbishop emeritus of Cumaná, who exceeds the age limit (80 years), so he will not be able to participate in a possible conclave.
The other three are the Argentine Monsignor Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the powerful Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; Ángel Sixto Rossi, archbishop of Córdoba; and Luis Pascual Dri, confessor at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Pompeii who, because he is over 80 years old, will also not be able to participate in a conclave.
During his pontificate, Francis sought to promote clergy from developing countries far from Rome as part of his philosophy of diversity and inclusion and has advocated for a more tolerant Church with special attention to the poor and marginalized.
After this consistory there will be 137 cardinal electors. Almost three quarters of them (99) will have been created by Jorge Bergoglio, while 21% were created by Benedict XVI and 6% by John Paul II.
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As is customary, future cardinals will kneel in front of the pope to receive their cardinal’s cape, whose scarlet red color evokes the blood shed by Christ on the cross. Francis will also give each of them the cardinal’s ring, which replaces the episcopal ring they receive as bishops.
After the ceremony, the traditional “courtesy visit” will take place in which the public is invited to greet the new cardinals in the golden halls of the Apostolic Palace.
Traditionally considered the “princes” of the Roman Catholic Church, cardinals are the pontiff’s chief advisors and administrators. Some lead departments within the Roman Curia, the government of the Holy See, but most work from their countries.
Faithful to the principle of “universality” of the Church, the Jesuit pontiff also looks to other “peripheries” of Catholicism where the number of faithful is growing, such as Africa or Asia.
Among the newly elected are clerics from two geopolitically sensitive areas: the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the main Catholic authority in the Holy Land, and the bishop of Hong Kong, key to trying to improve the Vatican’s relations with communist China.
But European clergy, where Catholicism is in decline, will remain strongly represented. The new cardinals include the Swiss prelate who serves as apostolic nuncio of the Holy See in Italy, the archbishop of Lodz (Poland), or the archbishop of Madrid, Monsignor José Cobo Cano.
The youngest of the new cardinals is the bishop of Setúbal (Portugal), who recently organized World Youth Day in Lisbon. Américo Aguiar will be the second youngest member of the College of Cardinals following the apostolic prefect in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Giorgio Marengo.
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