Pope Francis appointed 21 new cardinals on July 9, including the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Christophe Pierre; American-born Archbishop Robert Prevost, who oversees appointments of Catholic bishops worldwide; and the new head of the Vatican Teaching Office, Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández.
The pope made the announcement at the end of his weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday from a window in the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square. Francis said he will install the new cardinals during a Sept. 30 consistory at the Vatican, saying these new cardinals represent the universality of the global church and the “inseparable bond” between the pope and dioceses around the world.
Of the 21 new cardinals, 18 are under 80 and would be eligible to vote in a papal conclave. With the additions, the total number of cardinals eligible to vote as of September 30 is 137.
The new cardinals-designate include three Vatican officials: Prevost, Fernández and Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, 67, an Italian archbishop who was appointed prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for the Eastern Churches on Nov. 22.
Prevost, 67, is a Chicago-born Augustinian whom Francis appointed in January to head the influential Vatican office responsible for the Pope’s recommendation of priests to Catholic bishops. Prevost was previously bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, where he served as a missionary for decades.
Fernández’s appointment, 60, comes just over a week after the Pope announced that he had appointed this prelate, a longtime theological adviser and co-archbishop of Argentina, to head the Vatican’s Dicastery of Doctrine of the Faith. In a letter accompanying Fernandez’s appointment to the Magisterium, Francis urged the Archbishop to steer the Dicastery in a new direction, characterized by the promotion of evangelization and theology methods rather than theological scrutiny. The appointment has already sent shock waves through conservative circles in the Catholic Church.
Originally from France, Pierre, 77, is a longtime Vatican diplomat who has served in Mexico, Uganda and Haiti. In 2016, Francis appointed Pierre as his representative to the United States, a post the archbishop continues to hold despite having reached the traditional bishop retirement age of 75. In his role, Pierre is responsible for identifying and screening potential bishops for the Church.
He succeeded the now-disgraced former nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a Q-Anon conspiracy theorist who had previously called for the Pope’s resignation. Pierre was a staunch defender of Francis in the US, where the hierarchy was often reluctant to embrace the pope’s pastoral priorities.
In a brief phone call with Pierre, he told NCR he was “amazed and grateful” at the pope’s decision to make him a cardinal.
Prelates from ten dioceses around the world will also receive the red hat of cardinals from Francis, along with an auxiliary bishop, two Vatican diplomats and the head of the Salesian order.
Notable new cardinals-elect include Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow, 63, a Jesuit who has recently sought to bridge the gap between China and Hong Kong’s Catholics; Juba, South Sudan Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, 53, who received Francis during his visit to South Sudan in February; and Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 58, who heads the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The full list of new cardinal electors:
- Archbishop Robert Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops;
- Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti; Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches;
- Archbishop Victor Fernández; Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith;
- Archbishop Emil Tscherrig, retired apostolic nuncio
- Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States;
- Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem;
- Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
- Archbishop Ángel Sixto, Archbishop of Córdoba, Argentina;
- Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio of Bogotá, Colombia;
- Archbishop Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź, Poland;
- Archbishop Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, Archbishop of Juba, South Sudan;
- Archbishop José Cobo Cano, Archbishop of Madrid;
- Archbishop Protase Rugambwa, Coadjutor to the Archbishop of Tabora, Tanzania;
- Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang, Malaysia;
- Bishop Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong;
- Bishop François-Xavier Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio, France;
- Bishop Américo Manuel Alves Aguiar, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, Portugal;
- Br. Ángel Fernández Artime, Superior General of the Salesians of Don Bosco.
In addition to the new cardinals to be elected, Francis also appointed three cardinals over the age of 80 who are not allowed to participate in a papal conclave. They are: Italian Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, a retired apostolic nuncio and historian of Vatican II; retired Archbishop of Cumaná, Venezuela, Diego Rafael Padrón Sánchez; and Capuchin Father Luis Pascual, confessor of the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The creation of 18 new cardinal electors by the 86-year-old Francis will put the total number of cardinal electors well above that of Pope Paul VI. limit of 120 set in 1975. Both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI at different points in time during their papacy.
The September ceremony to appoint new cardinals, taking place on the eve of the Pope’s much-anticipated Synod of Bishops in October, will be Francis’ ninth consistory to appoint new cardinals since his election as pope in March 2013. He last created new cardinals in August 2022.