VATICAN CITY, Sept 30 ― Pope Francis will today elevate 21 clergymen from all corners of the world to the rank of cardinal ― most of whom may one day cast ballots to elect...
VATICAN CITY, Sept 30 ― Pope Francis will today elevate 21 clergymen from all corners of the world to the rank of cardinal ― most of whom may one day cast ballots to elect his successor.
Saturday's ceremony, known as a consistory, is the ninth since Francis was elected pope by his peers in 2013. Eighteen of the 21 new cardinals are under the age of 80 and thus currently eligible to vote as “cardinal electors” in the next conclave, when Francis' successor will be decided. “He is looking for cardinals who correspond to the times. These are people who have all taken a step away from the Church of the past, who positively ensure a break,” an informed observer of the Holy See who asked to remain nameless told AFP.There are three new cardinals from South America, including two Argentinians, and three from Africa, with the promotion of the archbishops of Juba in South Sudan, South Africa's Cape Town and Tabora in Tanzania.
The list includes the Holy Land's top Catholic authority, Italian Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the first serving Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem to be made cardinal.