Pope Francis has on Saturday installed 13 new cardinals, who will be holding a higher rank, further expanding the pontiff’s impact on the group that will one day elect his successor.
The consistory saw Rwanda getting her first cardinal, in the name of Archbishop Antoine Kambanda, a 62-year-old from Archbishop of Kigali.
The consistory which has already commenced and was announced by the Vatican on Saturday 28th November 2020, saw the Pope installing the 13 new cardinals at the ceremony.
The consistory which is a very low turn out event, due to the coronavirus pandemic, saw each of the 13 new cardinals bringing in just only 10 guests at the ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Some of the photos shared by the Vatican on their official website, showed Pope Francis giving out the traditional ring and red hat, known as a biretta to the 13 new Cardinals.
Nine of the 13 are under 80 and eligible under Church law to enter a secret conclave to choose the next pope from among themselves after Francis dies or resigns.
It was Francis’ seventh consistory since his election in 2013. He has now appointed 57% of the 128 cardinal electors, most of whom share his vision of a more inclusive and outward-looking Church.
Thus far, he has appointed 18 cardinals from mostly far-flung countries that never had one, nearly all of them from the developing world. In Saturday’s consistory, Brunei and Rwanda got their first cardinals.
While Europe still has the largest share of cardinal electors, with 41%, it is down from 52% in 2013 when Francis became the first Latin-American pope.
With each consistory, Francis has increased the chances that his successor will be another non-European, having beefed up the Church in places where it is either a tiny minority or where it is growing faster than in the stagnant West.
The nine new electors come from Italy, Malta, Rwanda, the United States, the Philippines, Chile, Brunei and Mexico.
In his homily, Francis told the men to keep their eyes on God, avoid all forms of corruption, and not succumb to a “worldly spirit” that can accompany the prestige and power of their new rank.
Everyone in the basilica except the pope wore a mask. Each new cardinal removed theirs when they knelt before him to be invested.
The new cardinals were quarantined for about 10 days in their rooms in the Vatican guest house where the Pope also lives. Cardinals from Brunei and the Philippines could not travel and will receive their ring and hat from a papal delegate.
Four non-electors over 80 were given the honour after a long service to the Church. The most prominent is Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, an Italian-American who has worked around the world and is one of the Church’s top experts on immigration.
– Archbishop Mario Grech, 63, Maltese, Vatican-based Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
– Archbishop Marcello Semeraro,73, Italian, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
– Archbishop Antoine Kambanda, Rwandan, 62, Archbishop of Kigali.
– Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, American, 72, Archbishop of Washington D.C.
– Archbishop Jose F. Advincula, 68, Filipino, Archbishop of Capiz.
– Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco, 75, Spanish, archbishop of Santiago, Chile.
– Archbishop Cornelius Sim, 69, Brunei, apostolic vicar of Brunei
– Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice, 56, Italian, archbishop of Siena, Italy.
– Father Mauro Gambetti, 55, Italian, custodian of the Franciscan convent of St. Francis in Assisi.