Pope Francis names 19 new cardinals

January 13, 2014

Following his Angelus address on January 12, Pope Francis announced the names of 19 prelates who will become cardinals in the consistory of February 22, the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle.

Four of the new cardinals are currently serving in senior positions on the Roman Curia, and 12 are residential bishops. Pope Francis also announced that he would honor three prelates by raising them to the College of Cardinals in recognition of their outstanding service to the Church, although they are above the age of 80 and therefore ineligible to participate in a papal conclave.

The new curial cardinals will be:

• Archbishop Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State
• Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops
• Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Archbishop Beniamino Stella, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

The new cardinals who govern dioceses will be

• Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster (Great Britain)
• Archbishop Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano of Managua (Nicaragua)
• Archbishop Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of Québec (Canada)
• Archbishop Jean-Pierre Kutwa of Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
• Archbishop Orani João Tempesta, OCist, of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• Archbishop Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia-Città della Pieve (Italy)
• Archbishop Mario Aurelio Poli of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
• Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo jung of Seoul (South Korea)
• Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, SDB, of Santiago (Chile)
• Archbishop Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo of Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)
• Archbishop Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, of Cotabato (Philippines)
• Bishop Chibly Langlois of Les Cayes (Haiti)

The sees of Westminster, Managua, Québec, Abidjan, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Seoul, and Santiago have traditionally been governed by cardinals, and a previous archbishop of Ouagadougou was created a cardinal in the consistory of 1965.

The See of Perugia, however, has not been governed by a cardinal since the nineteenth century, when Bishop Vincenzo Pecci -- the future Pope Leo XIII -- was created a cardinal in the consistory of 1853. (Other archbishops of Perugia have become cardinals following subsequent curial appointments.) Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Bassetti, 71, to his see in 2009.

Archbishop Quevedo, 74, was appointed to his see in 1998 and will be the first cardinal archbishop of Cotabato. The last four archbishops of Manila, the nation’s capital, have been cardinals, as have the two predecessors of the current archbishop of Cebu.

Bishop Langlois, who was appointed to his current see by Pope Benedict in 2011, will become the first Haitian cardinal. In naming Bishop Langlois a cardinal, Pope Francis passed over the archbishops of Haiti’s two metropolitan sees, Cap-Haïtien and Port-au-Prince.

Pope Francis added that “together with them, I will join to the members of the College of Cardinals three archbishops emeriti distinguished for their service to the Holy See and to the Church”:

• Archbishop Loris Francesco Capovilla (Italy)
• Archbishop Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, CMF, Archbishop Emeritus of Pamplona (Spain)
• Archbishop Kelvin Edward Felix, Archbishop Emeritus of Castries (Santa Lucia)

Archbishop Capovilla, 98, served as Blessed John XXIII’s secretary, and Archbishop Aguilar, 84, retired from his see in 2007. Archbishop Felix, 80, retired from his see in 2008; his throat was cut in a 2006 attack outside his cathedral.

There are currently 199 cardinals, 107 of whom are eligible to participate in a papal election. One of them, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, will turn 80 before the consistory. Another, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who resigned in disgrace last year, chose not to participate in the papal conclave of 2013 and presumably will not take part in future conclaves.

Following the consistory, then, there will be 218 cardinals, 122 of whom will be eligible to vote in a papal election. Besides Cardinal Re, 12 other cardinals are currently 79 years old, and four are 78 – making another consistory likely in the next two years if Pope Francis wishes to maintain the number of cardinal electors at 120, the number set by Pope Paul VI.

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis announces names of new Cardinals (Vatican Radio)
• The Pope Appoints Nineteen New Cardinals (VIS)
• Cardinal Electors (Catholic-hierarchy.org)
• Cardinal Electors (Catholic-hierarchy.org)