Pope Francis very clearly emphasised the non-European “imprint” of his pontificate yesterday with his first batch of new cardinals by appointing 10 out of 16 new “electors” from outside Europe. Three of them come from Latin America, the remaining seven from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Philippines, South Korea and Canada. As is customary, the Pope named them during his Sunday Angelus address in St Peter’s Square.
Greater mix
Argentine Francis, the pontiff who describes himself as coming "from the ends of the world", has made no secret of his belief that the Catholic Church is too "Eurocentric". Even including yesterday's appointments, the College of Cardinal Electors (those under 80) is still almost 50 per cent European.
The pope is trying to “rebalance” the college and redress a situation under which, in 2012, 67 European elector cardinals were registered out of a total of 125. Furthermore, 30 of those cardinals were Italians, representing almost 25 per cent of the electoral body even if only 4 per cent of the world’s Catholics live in Italy. Even now, Latin America, with just under half the world’s Catholics, still has less than 20 per cent of the vote.
This non-European emphasis obviously worked against someone like the Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, often touted in Rome as a future cardinal. Vatican insiders argue that, given Ireland has two cardinals in Archbishop Seán Brady of Armagh and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Connell of Dublin, there was never any real possibility Francis would have appointed a third one.
Not surprisingly, the largest contingent of new, non-European cardinals comes from Latin America, with the red hat being bestowed on the pope’s successor in Buenos Aires, Archbishop Mauro Aurelio Poli, on the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Orani Joao Tempesta, and on the Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Riccardo Ezzati Andrello.
It says much that four of the six Europeans named yesterday were “automatic” curia appointments, as the heads of important Vatican departments. The four are: the pope’s secretary of state, Italian archbishop Pietro Parolin; the Prefect of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith (ex-Holy Office), German archbishop Gerhard Muller; the Prefect of the Congregation of the Clergy, Italian archbishop Beniamino Stella; and the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops, Italian Lorenzo Baldiserri.
The latter appointment may be significant because it lends immediate weight to the Vatican’s synod or parliament, due to meet twice in the next two years to discuss the role of the family.
Three non-electors
In the end, Francis yesterday named 19 new cardinals, also nominating three non-electors for their "service to the church", including 98-year-old Archbishop Loris Capovilla, former private secretary to Pope John XXIII.
With the numbers of the cardinal electors down to 104 by the end of May, Francis named 16 new ones to bring the number up to the required 120.