Pope Francis Creates 13 Cardinals, Including Washington Archbishop

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One by one, 11 senior Churchmen, including two U.S. citizens—Cardinals Wilton D. Gregory of Washington, D.C., and Silvano M. Tomasi, a former Vatican diplomat who has served in the Archdiocese of New York—knelt before Pope Francis to receive their red hats, a cardinal’s ring and a scroll formally declaring their new status and assigning them a “titular” church in Rome.

But with the consistory Nov. 28 occurring during the Covid-19 pandemic, Pope Francis actually created 13 new cardinals.

Cardinals Jose F. Advincula of Capiz, Philippines, and Cornelius Sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei, did not attend the consistory because of Covid-19 travel restrictions. However, they are officially cardinals and will receive their birettas and rings at a later date, the Vatican said.

In his homily at the prayer service, Pope Francis told the new cardinals that “the scarlet of a cardinal’s robes, which is the color of blood, can, for a worldly spirit, become the color of a secular ‘eminence,’” the traditional title of respect for a cardinal.

If that happens, he said, “you will no longer be a pastor close to your people. You will think of yourself only as ‘His Eminence.’ If you feel that, you are off the path.”

For the cardinals, the pope said, the red must symbolize a wholehearted following of Jesus, who willingly gave His life on the cross to save humanity.

According to canon law, cardinals are created when their names are made public “in the presence of the College of Cardinals.” While many Rome-based cardinals attended the consistory, more members of the college were “present” online.

The pandemic also meant the gathering was unusually small; each cardinal was accompanied by a priest-secretary and could invite a handful of guests, so there were only about 100 people in the congregation at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Also missing were the “courtesy visits,” a reception lasting several hours in the early evening when the general public was invited into the Vatican to greet the new cardinals.

In addition to some Rome-based cardinals, the congregation included the pastors or rectors of the 13 Rome churches to which the new cardinals were associated. Cardinals are given a “titular” church in Rome, formally making them members of the Rome diocesan clergy, which is what the Church’s first cardinals were.

The new cardinals, announced by Pope Francis Oct. 25, came from eight countries: Italy, Malta, the United States, Brunei, the Philippines, Mexico, Rwanda and Chile.

Cardinal Gregory became the first African American cardinal from the United States. In an interview with Catholic News Service, Cardinal Gregory said he hopes Pope Francis will find him to be “supportive, encouraging and trustworthy” in his role as a cardinal, but his primary ministry is still to be the archbishop of Washington.

Cardinal Tomasi, a retired Italian archbishop, a former nuncio and a member of the Scalabrinian missionaries, completed his studies for the priesthood in the United States and taught there for years. He also was director of pastoral care at the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services from 1983 to 1987 when he was named secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Travelers.

Cardinal Tomasi was ordained a priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in the Bronx and received his doctorate in sociology at Fordham University. He was a founder of the Center for Migration Studies on Staten Island. (The center is now located in Manhattan.) He also served a term as the U.S. Provincial of the Scalabrinianas, based in Manhattan. On Nov. 1, Pope Francis appointed him as special delegate to the Order of Malta.

One of Cardinal Tomasi’s guests was the pastor of his boyhood parish, San Rocco in Casoni di Mussolente, a town of fewer than 8,000 people in northern Italy. In the past 80 years, the cardinal told CNS, the parish has produced more than 100 priests and religious sisters, “and now also a cardinal. I hope it will help to continue the flourishing of vocations from the parish.”

With the consistory, the College of Cardinals now has 229 members, 128 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to enter a conclave to elect a new pope. Pope Francis has given the red hat to 57 percent of electors.

With Cardinals Gregory and Tomasi, who was born in Italy but is a U.S. citizen, the number of U.S. cardinals rose to 16; nine of them are cardinal electors.

Entering the college Nov. 28 were Cardinals:

  • Mario Grech of Malta, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, 63.
  • Marcello Semeraro, an Italian who is prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes, 72.
  • Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda, 62.
  • Gregory, 72.
  • Advincula, 68.
  • Celestino Aos Braco of Santiago, Chile, 75.
  • Sim, 69.
  • Paolo Lojudice of Siena, Italy, 56.
  • Mauro Gambetti, custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi in Assisi, 55.
  • Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, retired bishop of San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico, 80.
  • Tomasi, 80.
  •  Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, 86.
  •  Enrico Feroci, 80, former director of Rome’s Caritas.

CNS