For the ninth time in the ten years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has announced the appointment of cardinals, 21 in this batch, who will be created in the consistory on September 30. Since the beginning of his pontificate, the Pope has already created 122 cardinals, including 95 electors. The new consistory will bring this number to 143 including 113 electors.
There was really no need to create new cardinals this year, since the college of cardinals has 137 electors under the age of 80, even though the “maximum” number set by Paul VI is 120 prelates. Seven cardinals will be 80 years old before the end of the year. For the record, John Paul II convened nine consistories in 25 years.
The list includes Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, as well as heads of dicastery: Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and Victor Fernández, already quoted, as well as Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, also included are two nuncios: Christophe Pierre (in the United States), and Emil Paul Tscherrig (in Italy).
The list also includes two Jesuits, Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Bishop of Hong Kong, who sought to be closer to the “official” Chinese bishops and who could help the Pope realize his dream of going to China. And Ángel Sixto Rossi of Córdoba, who is very committed to social issues.
The new Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo Cano, who holds progressive positions, is also on the list of future cardinals. There are also archbishops and bishops from large cities (Cape Town, Bogota, Lodz, Juba, Lisbon, or smaller, Penang or Ajaccio, and even a coadjutor and auxiliary bishop (Tabora and Lisbon).
Also included is a priest, Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Order of the Salesians. It should be noted that three of those appointed over 80 years of age.
Before the next consistory, currently there are 121 cardinal electors, 81 of whom (67%) were appointed by Pope Francis. It should be remembered that the cardinals appointed, but who have not yet received the cardinal’s biretta during the consistory, in other words who have not been “created” according to the technical term, cannot participate in a possible conclave. Therefore, 21 named would not be able to participate in the conclave if it becomes necessary to hold one before September 30.
The new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith will not have to wait too long to put on the cardinal purple. Indeed, the Pope announced this Sunday, July 9, 2023, after the Angelus, a consistory on September 30for a batch of 21 new cardinals, among whom will be Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernandez.