For round three, Pope Francis goes even further out

It’s another Franciscan selection for the next consistory: Pope Francis has picked 17 new cardinals, 6 of whom come from countries which have never had a cardinal before. Unlike previous consistories, the majority of the new cardinals are metropolitan archbishops. There are still three bishops, one priest, one head of a curia dicastery and – for the first time since 1998- a serving Nuncio among the new batch. Only five of the new cardinals serve in Europa in North America. The rest are spread out over Africa, Asia, South America, Oceania and the Middle East. Although he apparently still felt obliged to fill some cardinalatial sees (Madrid, Chicago, Mechelen-Brussels), this is Francis making sure the College of Cardinals increasingly reflects the worldwide Church.

After the consistory on 19 November, the number of electiors who can participate in a conclave will be 121. There are 111 cardinal electors now, but Cardinals Ortega y Alamino, López Rodríguez and Antonelli will turn 80 before the 19th. Following the 80th birthday of Cardinal Sarr on 28 November the number of cardinal electors will be at the ‘official’ maximum of 120 again.

A brief overview of the new cardinals:

• Archbishop Mario Zenari, Titular Archbishop of Zuglio and Apostolic Nuncio to Syria.
• Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic.
• Archbishop Carlos Osoro Sierra, Metropolitan Archbishop of Madrid, Spain.
• Archbishop Sérgio Da Rocha, Metropolitan Archbishop of Brasília, Brazil.
• Archbishop Blase Joseph Cupich, Metropolitan Archbishop of Chicago, United States of America
• Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario, Metropolitan Archbishop of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Archbishop Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Mérida, Venezuela
• Archbishop Josef De Kesel, Metropolitan Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussel, Belgium.
• Bishop Maurice Piat, Bishop of Port-Louis, Mauritius.
• Bishop Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life.
• Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tlalnepantla, Mexico.
• Archbishop John Ribat, Metropolitan Archbishop of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
• Archbishop Joseph William Tobin, Metropolitan Archbishop of Indianapolis, Unites States of America.
• Archbishop Anthony Soter Fernandez, Metropolitan Archbishop emeritus of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• Bishop Renato Corti, Bishop emeritus of Novara, Italy.
• Bishop Sebastian Koto Khoarai, Bishop emeritus of Mohale’s Hoek, Lesotho.
• Father Ernest Simoni, priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult, Albania.

Some of these choices have come about through personal encounters the Holy Father has had or the circumstances in which the cardinals-to-be have to work, circumstances which are close to Pope Francis’ heart. Archbishop Zenari remains in Syria despite the horrors of war, Archbishop Nzapalainga hosted Pope Francis during his visit to the war-torn Central African Republic, and Father Simoni moved the Pope to tears with his lifestory of imprisonment, torture and hard labour under Albania’s communist regime.

^Seen here visiting an Internally Displaced Persons camp, Cardinal-elect Dieudonné Nzalapainga is an example of “a shepherd who smells like his sheep”.

The preference for the peripheries that Pope Francis has displayed time and again should also be clear from the list of new cardinals: The Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and Lesotho are not exactly major players in the Catholic world, but the selection of cardinals from these countries should perhaps not be seen as reflecting the role of the specific countries, but the parts of the world they are in, combined with the individual merits of the chosen prelates. Here we see a shift in the balance from Europe and North America to Africa, South America, southeast Asia and Oceania, parts of the world where the Church is growing or significantly stronger than in the secularised west. Parts of the world where the Church can have a hands-on role to play in the various social situations and circumstances people find themselves in: from war and terrorism to environmental challenges and increasing development and industralisation. Major change seems to be a deciding factor in the appointment of new cardinals.

In the west, then, the chosen cardinals are seen in a far more political light. What are their positions on various topics within and outside the Church? And what does that say about the positions of Pope Francis on these same issues? Some of the new cardinals, such as Archbishop Cupich, De Kesel (at right) and Tobin are considered liberal on certain inter-ecclesiastic topics, and at the same time politically inclined in the same direction as the Holy Father, especially when it comes to the question of refugees in both Europe and North America, as well as gun control in the US. In general, their appointments are befitting of this Holy Year of Mercy.

Pope Francis has proven to not be too bothered with giving red hats to traditionally cardinalatial sees. In Europe, they get them in due time (with some exceptions, especially in Italy: Turin and Venice remain decidedly without cardinals at the helm), but the story is different across the pond. Despite their large Catholic populations, sees like Los Angeles and Philadelphia remain with a cardinal, despite having had them in the past.

Pope Francis also tends to choose more religious to become cardinals. Of the seventeen new cardinals, six belong to a religous order or congregation: Archbishop Nzalapainga and Bishop Piat are Spiritans, Archbishop D’Rozario (at left) is a Holy Cross Father, Archbishop Ribat is a Sacred Heart Missionary, Archbishop Tobin is a Redemptorist and Bishop Khoarai is an Oblate of Mary Immaculate. Pope St. John Paul II sometimes appointed more religious as cardinals, but that was in his mega-consistories of  2001 and 2003  of 42 and 30 cardinals respectively.

Of the seventeen new cardinals, fourteen will be Cardinal-Priests due to their being bishops outside of Rome, and the remaining three will be  Cardinal-Deacons (as they do not lead a diocese somewhere). All Cardinal-Priests receive a title church, and the Cardinal-Deacons a deaconry; a church in Rome of which they are the theoretical shepherd, thus making them a part of the clergy of Rome working with the bishop of that city. In practice, they have no influence in the running of their title church or deaconry, although their coat of arms is displayed there, and they take official possession of it some time after creation as cardinal.

While no Pope is obliged to use any of the available vacant titles and deaconries, and he is free to create new ones as he sees fit, some of these churches do stay in the family, so to speak. There are currently fourteen title churches vacant, so there is no pressing need to create new ones. Pope Francis has in the past shown to sometimes favour continuity in the granting of these titles (for example, he gave the title church he had as a cardinal, San Roberto Bellarmino, to Cardinal Mario Poli, who had succeeded him as archbishop of Buenos Aires). By that logic, we could guess that the church of San Bartolomeo all’Isola could be given to Archbishop Cupich, since it was the title church of his predecessor in Chicago, Cardinal Francis George. The other American cardinals could receive Santa Croce in Via Flaminia or Santi Giovanni e Paolo, as they were previously held by Amerian cardinals (Baum and Egan) as well.

For the three Cardinal-Deacons there is a choice of 10 vacant deaconries, so any guess is as good as the next, really.

Photo credit: [2] Catholic Herald, [3] BELGA, [4] Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh

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Moving up – 6 Cardinal Deacons advance

In yesterday’s ordinary consistory, Pope Francis announced the ‘promotion’ of six cardinals. They were all cardinal deacons, created in Pope St. John Paul II’s last consistory on 21 October 2003. As that is ten years and a few months ago, these cardinals were up for a potential promotion from cardinal deacons to cardinal priests. Such a promotion has little effect on their day to day activities and duties, in part because four of the six are already retired, but mainly because it is largely ceremonial. They move up in precedence among their brother cardinals: as deacons they ranked under the cardinal priests, but they now move up according to the date the were created cardinals and the order in which they appeared on the list announcing the consistory.

And one cardinal loses a duty which put him in the world’s spotlight back in March of last year…

Cardinals Jean-Louis Tauran, Francesco Marchisano, Julián Herranz Casado, Javier Lozano Barragán, Attilio Nicora and Georges Cottier were just six of an impressive 30 cardinals that St. John Paul II created in what would be his final consistory. With Cardinal Renato Martino, who for some reason is not ‘promoted’, they were the most senior cardinal deacons in the College of Cardinals. With their appointments as cardinal priests, they come before such famous prelates as Cardinals Scola, Turkson, Pell and Ouellet, and also all cardinals created by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis (except for the cardinal-bishops and the eastern patriarchs made cardinals by the Pope emeritus).

The new cardinal priests keep their title churches, with the exception of Cardinal Lozano Barragán, who was cardinal deacon of San Michele Arcangelo, but is now cardinal priest of Santa Dorotea, a new cardinal title.

The biggest practical change comes with the promotion of Cardinal Tauran, who was the cardinal protodeacon, the most senior cardinal deacon. And as such it was his duty to announce the election and name of a new Pope, as he did in March of last year. The new protodeacon is the aforementioned Cardinal Renato Martino. But since he is 81, he will have no role in the proceedings of a future conclave (which should, admittedly, be still a long way off). Replacing him is Cardinal William Levada, and should we have a new Pope between now and two years, he will be the one announcing his name.

The appointments are also a sign of appreciation for their work done for the Church. Below are a few short overviews of the careers of the six new cardinal-priests:

Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran is 71, and was born in Bordeaux, France. From 1969 to 1990 he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Bordeaux (-Bazas), after which he was appointed as secretary in the department of the Secretariat of State that deals with the relations with other nations. From 2003 to 2007 he worked as archivist of the Vatican Secret Archives and librarian of the Vatican Library. In 2007 he took up his current office: President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in which he is responsible for the ecumenical outreach of the Church.

Francesco Marchisano is 84 and hails from Italy. A priest of the Archdiocese of Turin since 1952, he became Secretary of the Pontifical Commission of Preserving the Church’s Patrimony of Art and History in 1988, and he remained so until 2003. During that time he also had several other tasks: he was President of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archeology from 1991 to 2004; President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church from 1993 to 2003; President of the Fabric of St. Peter from 2002 to 2004; and Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica from 202 to 2006. His final office before retirement was as President of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See from 2005 to 2009. Cardinal Marchisano retired at the age of 80.

Julián Herranz Casado is also 84 and comes from Spain. He was ordained a priest from Opus Dei in 1955 and was appointed as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts in 1983. In 1994 he was appointed as the President of that same Council, a position he held until his retirement in 2007. Cardinal Herranz was also one of the cardinals entrusted by Pope Benedict XVI with the investigation into the VatiLeaks scandal.

Javier Lozano Barragán, from Mexico, is 81, and was ordained a priest in 1955. From 1979 to 1985 he was auxiliary bishop of Mexico and later the bishop of Zacatecas until 1996. In 1997 he came to Rome to become President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers, a position he held until retiring in 2009.

Attilio Nicora, 77, comes from the Archdiocese of Milan, where he was a priest from 1964 to 1977. He became auxiliary bishop of Milan until resigning 1987. In 1994 he took on a new task, as Bishop of Verona, where he stayed until 2002. In that year he became President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See until retiring in 2011. In recent years he headed the Financial Information Authority of the Holy See.

Georges Marie Martin Cottier, lastly, is 92 and hails from Switzerland. He joined the Dominican Order in 1946 and was ordained in 1951. A distinguished professor and theologian, he was secretary of the International Theological Commission and has also been Theologian of the Papal Household.

Cardinal watch: Cardinal Poletto turns 80

In the first true change in the College of Cardinals after one member became the new Holy Father, Severino Cardinal Poletto reached the age of 80 yesterday and thus became unable to vote in a future conclave. There are currently 114 cardinal electors, and 206 cardinals in total.

Severino Poletto was born near Venice and became a priest for the Diocese of Casale Monferrato in 1957. By that time he had already earned a licentiate in moral theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome. In his first years as a priest, Father Poletto was active in pastoral care and as prefect of discipline and vocations director at the diocesan seminary. In 1965, he was appointed as a parish priest in the town of Casale. He coupled this with a part-time job at a local factory.

In the fifteen years that he worked as a parish priest, Fr. Poletto founded the Diocesan Centre for Family Ministry and coordinated city missions for the 500th anniversary of the foundation of the diocese in 1974.

In 1980, he was appointed as coadjutor bishop of Fossano, on the opposite end of northern Italy, south of Turin. Five months after this appointment, in October of 1980, Bishop Poletto succeed Archbishop Giovanni Dadone upon the latter’s death. For nearly a decade he led the Diocese of Fossano, and was also secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Piedmonte. In 1989, Bishop Poletto was moved to Asti, slightly further north, where he spent another decade. In 1999 followed his appointment as archbishop of Turin.

This appointment came with a cardinal’s hat in 2001. Cardinal Poletto was given the title church of San Giuseppe al Trionfale, which was actually a cardinal deaconry, but elevated for Cardinal Poletto who, as diocesan ordinary, automatically became a cardinal priest. He retired from the see of Turin in 2010.

Cardinal Poletto was a member of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See.