Two Asians among 13 new cardinals

Vatican City: Pope Francis on October 25 named 13 new cardinals, including two Asians.

In a surprise announcement from his studio window to faithful standing below in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said the churchmen would be elevated to a cardinal’s rank in a ceremony on Nov. 28.

Nine of the new cardinals are below 80, the statutory age to vote in a future conclave. Four are above 80.

The new Asian cardinals are Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz in the Philippines, and Monsignor Cornelius Sim Apostolic Vicar of Brunei.

New cardinals below 80:

1. Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda
2. Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, United States
3. Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz, in the Philippines,
4. Archbishop Celestino Aós Braco of Santiago, Chile
5. Apostolic Vicar of Brunei, Cornelius Sim
6. Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice of Siena, Italy
7. Bishop Mario Grech of Malta, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops
8. Bishop Marcello Semeraro, former Bishop of Albano, Italy, and the Prefect for the Congregation of the Causes of Saints
9. Monsignor Mauro Gambetti, current guardian of the Franciscan Sacro Convento in Assisi
Cardinals above 80:
1. Archbishop Emeritus Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristóbal de Las Casas (Mexico)
2. Former Apostolic Nuncio Silvano Tomasi, former permanent observer at the United Nations in Geneva who then worked in the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development
3. Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the Papal Household
4. Father Enrico Feroci, the pastor of the Shrine of Divine Love, outside Rome

Cardinals wear the color red which indicates their willingness to sacrifice themselves to the point of shedding their own blood, in the service of the successor of Peter, and even though they reside in the remotest regions of the world. They also become the titular of a parish in the Eternal City so that they are incardinated in the Church of which the Pope is bishop.

Pope Francis asked for prayers so the new cardinals “may help me in my ministry as bishop of Rome for the good of all God’s faithful holy people.”

Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa is the long-time papal preacher at the Vatican.

Another Franciscan made cardinal is Friar Mauro Gambetti, in charge of the Sacred Convent in Assisi. The pope, when elected in 2013, chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake saint. Earlier this month, the pontiff journeyed to that hill town in Umbria to sign an encyclical, or important church teaching document, about brotherhood.

Father Gambetti sounded surprised, at first he thought the pope was joking when he heard he was named, convent spokesperson Father Enzo Fortunato said. The Franciscan quickly pledged to “put himself at the service of humanity at a time so difficult to us all,” including offering compassion to the needy, Fortunato said in reference to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a reflection of the pope’s stress on helping those in need, Pope Francis also named as cardinal the former director of the Rome Catholic charity, Caritas, Father Enrico Feroci.

Archbishop Gregory Washington would become the first Black American prelate to become a cardinal.

The timing of his rise to cardinal comes in the thick of increased U.S. attention on racial injustice, after the police killed George Floyd, a Black man, in Minnesota this year.

Archbishop Gregory was publicly critical of US President Donald Trump’s visit to the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington a day after civil rights demonstrators were forcibly cleared from a square to facilitate the president’s visit to an Episcopal church in the U.S. capital.

The Washington prelate has had his pulse on factions in the U S Catholic Church, which has both strong conservative and liberal veins since he served three times as the head of the US Conference of bishops.

Conservative prelates in the United States have openly lambasted Francis for his more liberal stands, including his support for same-sex civil unions that came out in a new documentary this week.

Archbishop Gregory said in a statement that becoming a cardinal would allow him to work more closely with the pontiff in caring for the Catholic Church.

Source: vaticannews.va and Associated Press