elect the next pontiff — those aged under 80. With the latest appointments, the number of cardinals who meet that condition stands at 137.
That means, increasingly, the men who will vote for whoever succeeds Francis, in the event of his resignation or death, are churchmen supportive of his values, priorities and perspectives and who share his vision for the future of the Catholic Church.
Three of the churchmen chosen to receive the cardinal red work in Africa, a continent where the Church has experience growth in recent decades. They are Monsignor Stephen Brislin, 66, archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa; Monsignor Protase Rugambwa, 63, co-adjutor archbishop of Tabora, Tanzania; and Monsignor Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, 59, archbishop of Juba, South Sudan, which the pope visited earlier this year.
The office that Francis appointed Fernández to is traditionally headed by a cardinal. But the speed with which the La Plata archbishop was tapped publicly as a cardinal — eight days after the appointment — was notable and highlights the attention the pontiff gives to that office.
A U.S.-based group that tracks how the Catholic hierarchy deals with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy says Francis made a “troubling” choice in picking the Argentine archbishop, who, in 2019, refused to believe victims who accused a priest in that archdiocese of sexually abusing boys.
Two others holding important offices at the Vatican were also among the pope’s picks on Sunday. They are the Chicago-born Monsignor Robert Francis Prevost, 67, who heads the Dicastery for Bishops; and Monsignor Claudio Gugerotti, 67, an Italian in charge of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.
Also on the list are:
Monsignor Americo Manuel Alves Aguiar, an auxiliary bishop from Lisbon, Portugal, which the pope will visit next month for a Catholic youth jamboree, was also on the list. At 49, he is exceptionally young for a cardinal.
Monsignor Sebastian Francis, 71, bishop of Penang, Malaysia, who heads the bishops conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; Monsignor Francois-Xavier Bustillo, 54, a Franciscan and native Spaniard who is bishop of Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica; Monsignor Luis Jose Rueda Aparicio, 71, archbishop of Bogota, Colombia; and Monsignor Grzegorz Rys, 59, archbishop of Lodz, Poland.
Monsignor Emil Paul Tscherrig, 76, a Swiss prelate who is the first non-Italian to serve as papal ambassador to Italy and San Marino; and Monsignor Christopher Louis Yves Pierre, 77, a Frenchman whose diplomatic postings included Washington, D.C.
Monsignor Angel Sixto Rossi, 64, a Jesuit who is archbishop of his native Cordoba, Argentina; Monsignor Jose Cobo Cano, 57, who was just appointed last month by Francis to be archbishop of Madrid; and the Rev. Angel Fernández Artime, 62, a Spaniard who is rector major of the Salesians, a congregation of priests present in 133 countries.
Three of the 21 new cardinals are 80 or older and thus not eligible to vote in a conclave. They are Italian prelate, Agostino Marchetto, 82, who served as the top Vatican diplomat in Belarus, Madagascar, Mauritius and Tanzania; Monsignor Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez, 84, archbishop emeritus of Cumana, Venezuela; and a Franciscan priest, Luis Pascual Dri, 96, famed for hearing confessions in the pope’s native Buenos Aires and who has been praised by Francis for his stress on mercy.
Source – AP News