VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

Paddy Agnew

Pope Francis continued with his non-European “imprint” on the Catholic Church when he named his first batch of cardinals today, with ten of the 16 elector cardinals coming from outside Europe.

Two of the new cardinals come from Africa, two from Asia, two from Central America, one from North America and three from Latin America.

As is customary, the Pope himself announced the names of the new cardinals during his Sunday Angelus address in St Peter’s Square. Argentine Pope Francis, the pontiff who has described himself as coming “from the ends of the world”, has made no secret of his belief that he believes that the Catholic Church is too “euro-centric”. Even including today’s appointments, the College of Cardinal Electors (those under 80) is still more than 50 per cent European. More than half the world’s Catholics live in Latin America alone.

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