Diplomats, close advisors and people in the field: Pope Francis created, on Saturday September 30, twenty-one cardinals from four continents, the majority of whom will one day be called upon to elect his successor.
In a Catholic Church in full reflection on its future, the profiles of these “promoted” reflect the priorities set by Jorge Bergoglio, who has gradually designed a college of cardinals that is less Western and more focused on the Southern hemisphere.
The ninth ordinary consistory since the election of the Argentine Jesuit in 2013, this solemn ceremony began at 10 a.m. (Paris time) in St. Peter’s Square, in Rome. As is customary, the new cardinals will kneel before the pope to receive two symbols of their office: the barrette (a quadrangular purple hat) and a cardinal ring. They will then be presented to the public during the traditional “courtesy visits” to the Vatican. Of the twenty-one prelates called to assist the pope in the government of the Church, eighteen – those under the age of 80 – will participate in the conclave called to elect the next pope.
Sensitive to “peripheries” and minority communities, Francis seeks to promote clergy from developing countries to the highest ranks of the Church. The list of new cardinals from fifteen nationalities thus reflects regions where the Church is expanding, such as Latin America (three) and Africa, with the promotion of the archbishops of Juba (South Sudan), Cape Town ( South Africa) and Tabora (Tanzania). Asia, which has seen its representation grow in ten years, is represented by the bishop of Penang (Malaysia) and that of Hong Kong, Stephen Chow Sau-yan, seen as being able to play an important role in improving the difficult relations between the Church and Beijing.
Two French people named cardinals
Among the new entrants are two French people, bringing the number of voters in France to six: the bishop of Ajaccio, François Bustillo, 54, a Franciscan of Spanish origin, and Christophe Pierre, 77, apostolic nuncio (Ambassador of the Holy See) to the United States.
Italian Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the first serving Patriarch of Jerusalem – the highest Catholic authority in the East – created cardinal.
Also note the distinction of three close to the pope who are members of the Curia, the central “government” of the Holy See: the Italian Claudio Gugerotti, the Argentinian Victor Manuel Fernandez and the American Robert Prevost.
The appointment of cardinals is scrutinized by observers, who see it as an indication of the future spiritual leader of the Catholic Church and its claimed 1.3 billion faithful. Especially since Pope Francis, 86, who now uses a wheelchair, has left the “door open” to a renunciation, like his predecessor Benedict XVI, if his declining health justifies it.
The pope has now chosen 99 cardinal electors out of the current total of 137, almost three-quarters, while about 22 percent were created by Benedict XVI and 6 percent by John Paul II. This distribution could weigh on the two-thirds majority needed to elect a new pontiff by increasing the probability that he shares Francis’ ideas, even if the election of a pope is always unpredictable.