Pope Francis appointed this Saturday new cardinals in a ceremony at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, in the first consistory that takes place in mid-August and , like the previous ones, grants the College of Cardinals a greater representation of all churches.
Among the new cardinals are the Archbishop of Brasília, Paulo Cezar Costa, and the Archbishop of Manaus, Leonardo Ulrich Steiner .
“A Cardinal loves the Church, always with the same spiritual fire, both in big matters and in small ones; both in the encounter with the great of this world and with the little ones, who are great before of God”, the Pope said in his homily.
The new cardinals come from all corners of the world, such as the Archbishop of Ekwulobia (Nigeria), Peter Okpaleke; the Archbishop of Goa and Daman ( India), Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, the Archbishop of Hyderabad (India), Anthony Poola, and the Bishop of Wa (Ghana), Richard Kuuia Baawobr.
In the list of new cardinals i It includes one of the most unexpected appointments, that of Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, an Italian 48 who is administrator of the Catholic Church in Mongolia, where there are just over 1,500 Catholics.
In the eighth consistory of his pontificate, Francis named the cardinals and, one by one, gave them the cardinal’s ring, symbol of his new universal commitment to the Church, the cardinal’s cap, red in memory of the blood of the martyrs who gave their lives to defend their faith and the mission of their church in Rome.
After this consistory, the total number of cardinals increases to 227 , voters – under 80 years old – go from 116 to 227 – of these almost two thirds (83 cardinals) were appointed by Francis – and non-electors from 95 to 95.
Pope Francis will meet with the new cardinals between Monday and Tuesday to reflect on the new Apostolic Constitution “Praedicate Evangelium”, which reforms the organization of the Curia, the administration of the Catholic Church.
