Pope Francis has named 13 new cardinals including the Archbishop of Washington, Wilton Gregory, who will become the first African-American to hold such a position in the Church.
The Pope announced on Sunday, 25 October, following the Angelus prayer, that he had chosen nine new cardinals eligible to vote in a future conclave and four who are over the retirement age of 80.
Cardinal-designate Gregory’s appointment comes on the eve of the United States’ presidential election and at a moment when racial tensions have been rising high in the country.
Earlier this year, Archbishop Gregory criticised President Donald Trump’s visit to Washington DC’s John Paul II shrine in the midst of protests following the death of George Floyd. The president’s trip to the shrine came a day after police cleared protestors in the US capital so the president could stand in front of St John’s Episcopal Church holding a bible.
Francis’ cardinal choices, once again, reflect his preference for candidates from unexpected places, and pastors who share his vision of a Church inspired by the figure of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Pope’s namesake.
Among those chosen today are Fr Mauro Gambetti, the custodian of the Sacro Convento in Assisi and Fr Raniero Cantalamessa, 86, who is preacher to the papal household and a Capuchin Franciscan. He will receive his red hat as a retired cardinal. Cantalamessa is not the only Capuchin on the list as the Pope also chose Archbishop Celestino Aos, of Santiago, Chile.
The Pope’s new picks mean that 128 cardinals are eligible to vote in a future conclave, with Francis choosing well in excess of 50 per cent of the men who will select his successor.
Two leaders of departments of the Roman Curia were also chosen today. They include Bishop Mario Grech, the secretary of the Synod of Bishops body, and Bishop Marcello Semeraro, the new prefect of the Vatican’s saint-making body. He succeeded Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who last month was removed from his position by Francis.
Bishop Grech is a man who shares the Pope’s vision of a missionary, synodal Church explaining in a recent interview that it would “be suicide if, after the pandemic, we return to the same pastoral models that we have practiced until now.”
The other new cardinals include the Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda; Archbishop Jose Advincula of Capiz in the Philippines; Bishop Cornelius Sim, the Apostolic Vicar of Brunei and Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice of Sienna.
Chosen with Fr Cantalamessa in the list of retired cardinals include Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, a long serving former Vatican diplomat, the retired Archbishop of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Mexico, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel and Fr Enrico Feroci, parish priest of the Shrine of Divine Love in Castel di Leva, Rome.
They will receive their red hats during a consistory on 28 November.
Read Fr Cantalamessa on Pentecost and the pandemic in The Tablet.
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