By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, May 29, 2022: Pope Francis on May 29 named 21 new cardinals, including two from India.
Vatican News reports that the Pope will create the cardinals at a consistory on August 27. The new Princes of the Church represent the Church worldwide, and reflect a wide variety of cultures, contexts and pastoral ministries.
Among the Indians is the country’s first Dalit cardinal, Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad. The other is Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião di Rosário Ferrão of Gao and Daman, currently the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.
Archbishop Poola, 61, was born in a Dalit Catholic family in Chindhur in Kurnool. He will also be the first Telugu cardinal. He was ordained a priest on February 20, 1992, and appointed bishop of Kurnool in February 2008. He was promoted as the Hyderabad Archbishop in 2021.
Archbishop Ferrão was born on January 20, 1953, in Aldona in Goa, western India. He was ordained priest on October 28, 1979. On December 20, 1993, he was appointed the auxiliary bishop of Goa and Daman. On Dec. 12, 2003, he was promoted as the archbishop of Goa and Daman and patriarch of East Indies.
The Pope in his Angelus address said he will meet with all the cardinals August 29-30 to reflect on the new Apostolic Constitution Praedicate evangelium (Preach the Gospel).
The College of Cardinals currently consists of 208 Cardinals, of whom 117 are electors and 91 non-electors. As of August 27, the number will grow to 229 cardinals, of whom 131 will be electors, Vatican News reports.
Eight of the newly named Cardinals are from Europe, six from Asia, two from Africa, one from North America, and four from Central and Latin America.
The new cardinals:
1. Archbishop Arthur Roche – Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
2. Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung sik – Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
3. Legion of Christ Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate for Vatican City State
4. Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille (France)
5. Bishop Peter Okpaleke of Ekwulobia (Nigeria)
6. Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, O.F.M. – Metropolitan Archbishop of Manaus (Brazil)
7. Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião di Rosário Ferrão of Goa and Damão (India)
8. Bishop Robert Walter McElroy of San Diego (U.S.A)
9. Salesian Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva of Dili (East Timor)
10. Bishop Oscar Cantoni of Como (Italy)
11. Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad (India).
12. – Metropolitan Archbishop Paulo Cezar Costa of Brasília (Brazil)
13. Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr of Wa (Ghana, Africa)
14. Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye of Singapore
15. Metropolitan Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores of Asunción (Paraguay)
16. Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, I.M.C. – Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia)
17. Archbishop Emeritus Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal of Cartagena (Colombia)
18. Salesian Emeritus Archbishop Lucas Van Looy of Gent (Belgium)
19. Archbishop Emeritus Arrigo Miglio of Cagliari (Italy)
20. Jesuit Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda – Professor of Theology
21. Msgr. Fortunato Frezza – Canon of Saint Peter’s Basilica
It’s a good mixture of the young and the young at heart. Wishing the Cardinal-designates strength and stamina. God bless.
Good news for India and especially the Dalit community.