2023-09-30 00:00:24
Pope Francis will create this Saturday in a Consistory 21 new cardinalsamong them the Argentines Víctor Manuel Fernández (prefect of the strategic dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith), the Jesuit archbishop of Córdoba Angel Rossi and the friar Luis Drl, a mythical figure as confessor, who at 96 will follow the ceremony from Buenos Aires.
There are 18 cardinals under the age of 80 who will participate in the next Conclave and elect Francis’ successor. More than 70% of them have been elevated to the cardinalate by the current Pope and the majority continues its renewing position, who has increased in the decade of his pontificate the power of the countries of the so-called Global South, among the 91 nations represented by his cardinals.
Only four days later the Synod of Synods will begin in the Vatican, which now for almost a month and in a second phase in October 2024, the bishops of the world They will discuss the most difficult and dramatic topics, even those that cause the strongest confrontations within the Church itself and can even cause a schism, such as women’s access to the priesthood or the most arduous sexual issues, such as gay marriage.
Víctor “Tucho” Fernández with Pope Francis, in the Vatican.
Coincidence or not, in fact the Consistory and the Synod open the par the final phase of the pontificate of Pope Francis, that he has significantly strengthened his internal power but that he must decide when he will open the way for a successor since his health at 86 years old is good (he will turn 87 on December 17) but time passes, inexorably.
The Argentine pontiff also has the Jubilee Holy Year of 2005 ahead of him. The times for the succession are not pressing but the Pope knows that he cannot continue working 12 or 14 hours a day and fulfill his international commitments. A well-worked succession would give you more years of life and the possibility of ensuring the continuity of his reformist purposes in the church.
There are 137 cardinals under the age of 80, as of this Saturday with the right to elect a new Pope. Among those who will be created by Francis is the Jesuit bishop of Hong Kong, Stephen Chow, whose figure attracts general interest because he has offered to be a bridge between the Vatican and China to achieve the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two States. broken since 1951.
“I cannot speak on behalf of the Chinese government but I know that some of its members want to improve dialogue,” said the imminent Cardinal Chow. The Pope, during his recent visit to Mongolia, said that relations with China are “very respectful.” He also invited Chinese Catholics to “be good Christians and good citizens.”
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This Friday, after the ceremony for the creation of the cardinals, the new cardinals were greeted by friends and faithful at the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
The archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina, Angel Sixto Rossi, who has been a Jesuit who has been a close friend of the Pope for many years, said that Francis “knows how to relativize” the criticism leveled at him, even from sectors of the Church.
The archbishop of Córdoba, Angel Sixto Rossi, at the Vatican this Thursday. Photo: REUTERS
“In general he responds with silence and prayer,” added Sixto Rossi. “The Pope defends himself. He is a man with a strong skin and a soul that whoever knows him knows that he is a different man, really.”
Another new cardinal is the priest Angel Fernandez Artime, rector major of the Salesians. Among the senior officials of the Romanian Curia, there is the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, the American Robert Francis Prevost.
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa, also joins the College of Cardinals.
The Pope will present the red hat, the ring and the document with his creation to the new Latin American cardinal Luis José Aparicio, archbishop of Bogotá.
The Vatican reported that the new cardinals will be present alongside the Pope at the Opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops, on October 4 at 9 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square.
Pope Francis salutes bishops at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
112 of the 242 cardinals of the new College will be Europeans, including voters and non-electors. As the second region, Central and South America will have 37 cardinals, Asia 29; North America 27 and Oceania 24.
In the decade of Francis’ reign, balances have changed in the College of Cardinals by will of the new Pontiff. The presence of Third World countries is growing. Its 91 nationalities come from all continents
Some countries, such as South Sudan, have a cardinal representing them for the first time.
Two apostolic nuncios, the Swiss Ei Paul Tscherrig and the French Christopher Pierre, make up the delegation of Vatican diplomats at the college of cardinals.
This Saturday, kneeling before the Pope, the new cardinals will receive the cardinal’s ring, “a symbol of their new universal commitment to the Church,” and the red cape or cap in memory of the blood of the martyrs who gave their lives for the Church.
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