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The Triumph of the Southern Hemisphere

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
January 5, 2015

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/concistoro-consistory-consistorio-38373/

More than the statistics and percentage analyses, it was the pronouncement of the names of the new cardinals that really signalled change in the upcoming Consistory: most of the choices made came as a complete surprise and were totally unexpected. Pastors from the peripheries of the world, in many cases bishops of dioceses that had never had a cardinal before. This is a sign that Pope Francis intends to continue along the path he set out on a year ago: cutting down on the number of cardinals who are members of the Curia (on 14 February their number will drop from 30% to 27%); stopping the Cardinalate from being automatically connected to certain sees, that is the unwritten tradition of naming cardinals the archbishops of certain sees considered "cardinalatial sees"; and above all giving a voice to the southern part of the world, thereby allowing the true universality of the Church to increasingly shine through.

The names on the list all appear to be very personal choices made by the Pope: the new cardinals learnt about their nominations on the television. The Italian, Edoardo Menichelli, found out through a friend who called up to tell him the news, which at first he believed to be a joke. The elderly Sardinian archbishop Luigi de Magistris, a pupil of Cardinal Ottaviani, was in Cagliari Cathedral listening to faithful’s confessions. Other “chosen-ones” were reluctant to believe journalists as they tried to get a statement. Nothing was leaked and even the timing of the announcement caught many by surprise.

Francis clearly wants to restyle the future Conclave, bringing into the College of Cardinals pastor-electors who have first-hand experience of difficult contexts, in countries like Tonga and Myanmar that act as frontier lines, in regions torn apart by violence such as Morelia in Mexico and sometimes in small Churches or in areas where the Church represents a minority. In Italy, the Pope chose pastors from periphery Churches over bishops from the country’s biggest dioceses, Turin and Venice. Menichelli from Ancona and Francesco Montenegro from Agrigento. The former drives around his diocese in an old Fiat Panda and has started initiatives to help fragile marriages. The latter is the Bishop of Lampedusa and is right in the thick of the immigration problem. Three of the new cardinals are Italian, two of them are electors and one is over 80, which shows Francis’ attention for Italy.

“Of one thing I am certain: Great changes in history were realized when reality was seen not from the centre but rather from the periphery,” Francis said just over a year ago during his meeting with religious superiors. The new nominations seem to set this in stone.

The 15 new cardinal electors below the age of 80 come from 14 different countries. This number rises to 18 if we consider the five “outsiders” who cannot vote in a Conclave due to their age. If a Conclave is held to elect a new Pope, the electoral college will be made up of fewer Curia representatives and fewer Europeans, even though the list of names read out yesterday mentioned 5 European cardinal electors, 3 from Asia, 3 from Latin America, 2 from Africa and 2 from Oceania.

No red birettas for the US and Canada, but North America was already well represented and the number of cardinal electors representing it remains stable. The Archbishop of Chicago Blaise Cupich and the Archbishop of Madris Carlos Osoro did not receive birettas. Both recently received nominations from Pope Francis and are believed to be especially close to him. So Francis wanted the unwritten rule of making archbishops wait if emeritus predecessors were under the age 80 (and therefore eligible to vote in a Conclave), to apply to everyone.

Francis chose to include the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Mamberti, a Curia member, in the list. He is still young by Vatican standards so Francis could have skipped him this time round but the fact he included him, indicates that Francis remains faithful to the standards set by John Paul II. Those who had a right to be receive the cardinalate in Francis’ Curia have received it. Meanwhile, heads of Pontifical Councils – which will be undergoing extensive reforms – did not receive it. The Curia will count less in the election of a Pope.

 

 

 

 

 




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