Vatican, Pope 'creates' 21 new cardinals: 'Be builders of unity'

On the day before the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Pope 'creates' 21 new cardinals, one of the most numerous consistories in history, which will bring the number of electors in a hypothetical conclave to 140, a record threshold compared to the 120 set by Paul VI, regularly exceeded by his successors. Of these, 80% are now named Bergoglio - elected on 13 March 2013 - although not all are considered 'Bergoglian' in the strict sense. But Francis' line of including in the Sacred College prelates from the 'global south', from the peripheries of the world: fewer and fewer Europeans, more and more Asians and Latin Americans, few Africans. An important day then, at the same time as the reopening in Paris of the cathedral of Notre Dame rebuilt after the 2019 fire, an event to which the Pope had been invited and said no (next week he will go to Corsica for a day). All this while Saint Ambrose is being celebrated in Milan, but Archbishop Mario Delpini is not to be present in Rome: in fact, even at this round he did not get the 'berretta' despite the fact that the diocese he leads is the largest in the world.

"The adventure of the road, the joy of meeting others, care for the most fragile: this must animate your service as cardinals". Moreover, 'to walk the road of Jesus means, finally, to be builders of communion and unity': 'by resting his gaze on you, who come from different histories and cultures and represent the catholicity of the Church, the Lord calls you to be witnesses of fraternity, artisans of communion and builders of unity. And this is your mission'. This is what Pope Francis said to the 21 new cardinals created in today's Consistory, during the homily of the rite in which he presented them with the biretta and the ring. Commenting on the Gospel, the Pontiff pointed out that "the canker of competition destroys unity" and, "speaking of the corrosive competition of this world", Jesus "is as if saying: come after me, in my way, and you will be different; you will be a shining sign in a society obsessed with appearances and the search for first places".

A conspicuous bruise on his chin, on the right side of his face, and a plaster on his neck. This is how Pope Francis appeared in today's audiences and also in the Consistory for the creation of the new cardinals. Interviewed by journalists, the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, explained that "the bruise is the consequence of a contusion yesterday morning", and that the Pontiff "hit his chin on the bedside table".

The list of cardinals - one of them, former nuncio Angelo Acerbi, is 99 years old and therefore would not vote in the Conclave, the threshold in fact being 80 - was announced in October, and in the meantime there have been some changes. On 22 October, one of the 21 nominated, the Indonesian bishop of Bogor, Franciscan Paskalis Bruno Syukur, asked the Pope not to be created a cardinal to "grow further in priestly life, in service to the Church and to the people of God", although some press rumours spoke of other motivations concerning (unconfirmed) events in the diocese. And so in November, the Pope announced the appointment of the archbishop of Naples, Domenico Battaglia, as a cardinal, bringing the number of new cardinals to 21. The list includes all five continents and brings the number of members of the College of Cardinals to 253. Among these, as mentioned, 140 are those with voting rights, although in 2025, the year of the Jubilee, 14 of them will exceed 80.

There are five new Italian cardinals: in addition to Battaglia and Acerbi, the list includes the vicar of Rome, Baldassare Reina, the archbishop of Turin, Roberto Repole, and the undersecretary for the migrants section of the dicastery for integral human development, Father Fabio Baggio. With them, the presence of Italian cardinals voting in the Conclave comes to 19 (including the Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa and the Ordinary of Mongolia Giorgio Marengo, who, however, in the official statistics are included in the Asian 'quota'). Always the largest national group, its weight has certainly been reduced, even compared to the last conclave, when it was around 25 members.