Pope Francis Adds 14 Cardinals to Sacred College, New Electors of the Next Pope

Some of the new porporati come as no real surprise: Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer and Archbishop Angelo De Donatis already have positions that go along with the colors of a cardinal. One is prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the other is vicar general of the diocese of Rome.

The same goes for Archbishop Angelo Becciu, substitute for the Secretariat of State directed by Cardinal Parolin. This predictable promotion does however mean that Archbishop Becciu is destined for other functions, for a cardinal is never placed under the command of another cardinal in the same dicastery.

The Holy Father has also chosen to distinguish pastors whose dioceses are currently undergoing bloody persecution; the Iraqi patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Louis Raphaël Sako, for example, and Pakistani Joseph Coutts.

As usual, Francis has chosen some unexpected cardinals as well. The Peruvian archbishop – a Jesuit – Pedro Barreto, who is very involved in ecology in his country, for example; and Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, Almoner of Papal Charities, who devotes himself to the beggars of the Eternal City.

Another noteworthy name: Bishop António dos Santos Marto, the bishop of Fatima who received the pope in 2017 for the centenary of the Blessed Virgin’s apparitions, which goes to show the importance of Fatima in Francis’ eyes. This is the first time that the ordinary of Leira-Fatima has ever been made a cardinal, as this episcopal see has never been considered a cardinal see.

This is not the only example of the pope ignoring the idea of a cardinal see, points out Nicola Sénèze in La Croix. Francis chose to make the archbishop of Toamasina in Madagascar cardinal instead of the archbishop of the capital Tananarive, the archbishop of Osaka in Japan instead of the archbishop of Tokyo, and even in Italy the archbishop of Aquila – “that had not had a cardinal since the 16th century!” – instead of the archbishop of Venice or Turin.

With these 14 nominations, the cardinal electors nominated by the Argentinian pope will represent 47.2% of all the cardinal electors. Those nominated by Benedict XVI represent 37.6% of the Sacred College, and those promoted by John Paul II, 15.2%