Pope Francis: New Cardinals Should Not Use …

Page in Italy

By Elena Llorente

From Rome

In a ceremony held Saturday afternoon in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Pope Francis appointed 13 new cardinals from seven countries around the world, including six Italians and two Latin Americans as well as the first African-American cardinal the United States.

To the new cardinals dressed in their traditional red clothes and seated separately in the basilica, Francis called them to stay “on the way” of the Church and not to use the fact of having been made cardinals “to promote themselves”. According to the Pope, one must “always be vigilant to stay on the path” of the Church. “Because with the feet, with the body, we can be with the Lord, but our hearts can be far away and lead us off the road,” François stressed. Thus, for example, the crimson red of the cardinal habit, which is the color of blood, may become that of eminent distinction. And so you will no longer be the pastor but only the Eminence and you will be out of the way.

The consistory was held with reduced attendance from worshipers and following security measures, given the current covid pandemic. The cardinals in their red robes, their assistants, and even the Swiss Guards and others present, all wore masks and were far from each other. The Pope did not wear a mask and even allowed himself to give Malta Cardinal Mario Grech a brief hug, who spoke on behalf of all his colleagues.

Due to the covid, all courtesy visits new cardinals would normally receive after the ceremony were also prohibited. Of the 13 new cardinals, two were unable to make it to Rome and followed the celebration through a special system set up online to which the other members of the College of Cardinals also had access.

After reading the formula for the creation of the new cardinals, the Pope gave each of them the cardinal hat and ring as well as the title of a Romanesque church for which they will be responsible. Of the 13 cardinals, six are Italian (only three voters), two are Latin American (Chile and Mexico) and one from each of the following countries: the United States, the Philippines, Malta, Rwanda and Brunei.

But surely two things will attract special attention around the world: the first African-American cardinal of the United States – with the episcopal conference with which Francis does not have easy relations -, Wilton D. Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, and the appointment of a Franciscan, Mauro Gambetti, to a cardinal parliament which did not have one.

Cardinal Gregory criticized President Donald Trump’s visit to John Paul II’s tabernacle in Washington not long ago and expressed in a way the hope that with the change of government in his country, democracy would work, according to American television. Gregory was appointed Archbishop of Washington in 2019, replacing Archbishop Donald Wuerl, accused of mismanaging the issue of sexual abuse in his diocese.

This appointment could help Francis to improve his relations with the American Episcopal Conference, because some of its members, very conservative, boycott him and repeatedly accuse him of being too progressive or even communist, among other things because of the content of his last. encyclical. “Fratelli Tutti”.

The Franciscan Gambetti, for his part, is the guardian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi, the city where Saint Francis lived, the saint for whom the Pope chose his papal name and on whose tomb he decided to sign his last encyclical, “Fratelli tutti” (all brothers), October 3.

With this consistory, the number of cardinals reached 229, representing 90 countries in the world. But only 128 of them are voters (53 from Europe, 16 from North America, 21 from Latin America, 18 from Africa, 16 from Asia and 4 from Oceania), that is -to say that they can elect a new Pope. Because according to the standards of the Church, a cardinal who has turned 80 cannot be an elector. And among the newly elected, 4 are over this age.

From Chile, he was chosen by Pope Francis to be Cardinal (Elector), Archbishop of Santiago, Celestino Aós Braco, belonging to the Capuchin Order, psychologist and Spanish by birth, who took care to lead the hard battle against sexual abuse and the coverage of such abuse, which cracked the Chilean Bishops’ Conference a few years ago. “We are working so that the criminal acts of the past are not repeated,” he told reporters in Rome.

The other Latin American cardinal named was Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas in Mexico, who turned 80 in May and therefore will not be a Cardinal Elector. “More than a personal title, it is a recognition of indigenous peoples,” he told reporters. According to him, when Pope Francis visited San Cristóbal de Las Casas (State of Chiapas, border with Guatemala) in 2016, he was able to appreciate the life of a “Church that has strived to be indigenous”.

At the end of the consistory, the new cardinals went to the chapel of the Vatican “Mater Ecclesiae” monastery, where they greeted Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Sunday, always in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis will concelebrate Mass only with the new cardinals, the Vatican reported.