Pope Francis appointed 21 new Cardinals from various countries around the world. However, Cameroon, which lost its only Cardinal, Christian Wyhgan Tumi, in 2021, did not receive any new appointments.
The Pope made the announcement Sunday, October 6, during his weekly noon-time prayer with pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City.
The new Cardinals will receive their red hats at a ceremony known as a consistory on 8 December, an important feast day on its own that officially kicks off the Christmas season in Rome.
It will be Pope Francis’ 10th consecration to create new princes of the church and the biggest infusion of voting-age cardinals into the college in his 11-year pontificate.
The new cardinals come from a wide array of countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Italy, Britain, Serbia, Japan, Indonesia, Canada, Ivory Coast and Algeria.
Amongst those appointed from Latin America are, the Archbishop of Santiago del Estero in Argentina, Vicente Bokalic Iglic; the Archbishop of Brazil’s Porto Alegre, Jaime Spengler; the Archbishop of Santiago, Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib; the Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera; and the Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio.
The Archbishop of Toronto, Francis Leo, is the lone Cardinal appointed from North America.
Showing the universality of the church around the world, Francis also tapped the Archbishop of Tehran, Monsignor Dominique Joseph Mathieu, and the Bishop of Bogor, Indonesia, Monsignor Paskalis Bruno Syukor.
They both belong to the Franciscan religious order and are two of the four new Franciscan Cardinals.
In addition to Syukor, Asia gets two more cardinals: Monsignor Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, the Archbishop of Tokyo, and Monsignor Pablo Virgilio Sinogco David, the Bishop of Kalookan in the Philippines.
Aside from Asia, the other region where the church is growing is Africa, which got two new Cardinals: the Archbishop of Abidjan, Monsignor Ignace Bessi Dogbo, and the Bishop of Algiers, Monsignor Jean-Paul Vesco.
The most recent appointment brings the total number of Cardinals to 142, with Pope Francis having appointed 80% of them.
Cardinals constitute the electoral college in choosing a new Pope.
Recently, rumours have been circulating about the appointment of the Archbishop of Bamenda as a Cardinal. However, the Archdiocese of Bamenda has dispelled these rumours. In a statement dated October 6, 2024, signed by Fr. Derick Che, the Chancellor for the Archdiocese of Bamenda, it was clarified that there is no truth to these speculations.
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