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Pope Francis announced yesterday that he would be appointing 17 new cardinals, including Irishman Kevin Farrell, at a consistory in Rome next month.
With these appointments, Francis continues to put his imprint on the church: he himself has now chosen 44 of the 121 “elector” cardinals (those under 80 years of age) in the College of Cardinals.
Five of the 17 new cardinals come from Europe, while three, including Kevin Farrell, are USA church figures.
Otherwise, the appointments have a very "Francis" look about them in that he has named cardinals from the "periphery", namely the Central African Republic, Mauritius, Lesotho, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Venezuela and Brazil.
Bishop Farrell (68) had appointed prefect of the new Dicastery (department) for Laity, the Family and Life in mid-August, so it was always probable that he would be made a cardinal.
The Dublin born bishop has been based in the USA for the majority of his life as a priest.