Pope Francis creates 21 new cardinals from across the world at a consistory in St. Peter’s Square on Sept. 30, 2023. (Credit: Vatican Media)
Vatican City, Dec 1, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).
Five Italians have been chosen by Pope Francis to become cardinals at the Dec. 7 consistory, four of whom are under 80 years old and therefore have voting rights to elect a new pope at the next conclave.
In total, 21 cardinals — representing the Catholic Church’s geographical diversity — will be created at the upcoming consistory.
Archbishop Roberto Repole at his episcopal ordination on May 7, 2022. Credit: Diocesi di Torino, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Metropolitan Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, who edited the series “The Theology of Pope Francis,” is a theologian and former president of the Italian Theological Association educated at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. The 57-year-old prelate actively participated in both plenary sessions of the global Synod on Synodality that took place in the Vatican in 2023 and 2024. Repole also participated in the 2024 theological-pastoral forums, created by the Synod of Bishops, to deepen study and reflection on the missionary action of the Church.
Rome Bishop Bishop Baldassare Reina presides at the closing of the diocesan phase of the investigation into the life and virtues of Chiara Corbella Petrillo in Rome on June 21, 2024, in Rome. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Archbishop Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, is the youngest of the Italian prelates to be elevated to the cardinalate on Dec. 7. In 2024 alone — in addition to being chosen for the College of Cardinals — the 54-year-old prelate was appointed by Pope Francis as vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, titular bishop of Acque di Mauritania, apostolic administrator of Ostia, and grand chancellor of the Pontifical Lateran University.
Pope Francis greets Father Fabio Baggio during a meeting with refugees people from Lesbo at the Apostolic Palace on Dec. 19, 2019. Credit: Vatican Pool/Getty Images
Father Fabio Baggio, CS, is the only one of the five Italian cardinals-elect who belongs to a religious congregation. He will become titular archbishop of Arusi. Baggio, a priest of the Missionaries of St. Charles (also known as the Scalabrinians), has worked in the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development since 2017. With the appointment of Canadian Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny as the dicastery’s prefect in 2022, Baggio was subsequently promoted to be the dicastery’s undersecretary. From 2017–2022, Baggio was head of the dicastery’s Migrants and Refugees section.
Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy. Credit: Vincenzo Amoruso via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Metropolitan Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, known for his love for the poor, led a drug rehabilitation center in Catanzaro, Calabria, for over 20 years during his priestly ministry. Appointed by Pope Francis as archbishop of Naples in 2022, Battaglia — also known as “Don Mimmo” — had previously served as bishop of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant’Agata de’ Goti in Italy’s southwestern region of Campania from 2016–2020.
Archbishop Angelo Acerbi. Credit: James Bradley via Flickr CC BY 2.0
At 99 years old, Archbishop Angelo Acerbi will become the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the upcoming consistory. Having served as a bishop in the Catholic Church for 50 years, Acerbi also has 40 years of experience working as part of the Holy See’s diplomatic corps. Between 1974 and 2001, he served as nuncio to New Zealand, Colombia, Hungary, Moldova, and the Netherlands. From 2001–2015, Acerbi was prelate of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Due to being over the age of 80, he will not have voting rights at the next papal conclave.
Following the Dec. 7 consistory there will be a total of 253 members of the College of Cardinals. Among the 52 Italians, only 17 will have voting rights at the next papal conclave.
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Pope Francis greets a crowd of an estimated 25,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for his Regina Caeli address on May 22, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, May 22, 2022 / 07:33 am (CNA).
In his Sunday Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis reflected on Jesus’ words to the disciples at the Last Supper in the Gospel reading from John: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
Speaking to an estimated 25,000 pilgrims gathered on a bright day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the pope noted that Jesus also makes a point to add, “Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27).
“What is this peace that the world does not know and the Lord gives us?” Pope Francis asked.
“This peace is the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit of Jesus. It is the presence of God in us, it is God’s ‘power of peace,'” he explained. “It is He, the Holy Spirit, who disarms the heart and fills it with serenity. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who loosens rigidity and extinguishes the temptations to attack others. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who reminds us that there are brothers and sisters beside us, not obstacles or adversaries.
“It is He, the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength to forgive, to begin again, to set out anew because we cannot do this with our own strength. And it is with Him, with the Holy Spirit, that we become men and women of peace,” Pope Francis said.
“This is the source of the peace Jesus gives us,” he added. “For no one can leave others peace if they do not have it within themselves. No one can give peace unless that person is at peace.”
Pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022. In his Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis spoke about the peace of Christ. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said, “Let us learn to say every day: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’ This is a beautiful prayer. Shall we say it together? ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Again encouraging the crowd to pray with him, he said, “I didn’t hear it well. One more time: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Focusing on the context of Gospel reading, Pope Francis observed that Jesus’ words to his apostles are “a sort of testament.”
The pope said, “Jesus bids farewell with words expressing affection and serenity. But he does so in a moment that is anything but serene,” referring to Judas’ unfolding betrayal and Peter’s imminent denial that he even knows Jesus.
“The Lord knows this, and yet, he does not rebuke, he does not use severe words, he does not give harsh speeches,” Pope Francis said. “Rather than demonstrate agitation, he remains kind till the end.”
He continued, “There is a proverb that says you die the way you have lived. In effect, the last hours of Jesus’ life are like the essence of his entire life. He feels fear and pain, but does not give way to resentment or protesting. He does not allow himself to become bitter, he does not vent, he is not impatient. He is at peace, a peace that comes from his meek heart accustomed to trust.”
In so doing, “Jesus demonstrates that meekness is possible,” the pope observed.
“He incarnated it specifically in the most difficult moment, and he wants us to behave that way too, since we too are heirs of his peace,” he said. “He wants us to be meek, open, available to listen, capable of defusing tensions and weaving harmony. This is witnessing to Jesus and is worth more than a thousand words and many sermons. The witness of peace.”
Pope Francis invited all disciples of Jesus to reflect on whether they behave in this way.
“Do we ease tensions, and defuse conflicts? Are we too at odds with someone, always ready to react, explode, or do we know how to respond nonviolently, do we know how to respond with peaceful actions? How do I react?” he asked.
“Certainly, this meekness is not easy,” while adding ,“How difficult it is, at every level, to defuse conflicts!”
Jesus understands this. He knows “that we need help, that we need a gift,” the pope explained.
“Peace, which is our obligation, is first of all a gift of God.”
Pope Francis said that “no sin, no failure, no grudge should discourage us from insistently asking for this gift from the Holy Spirit who gives us peace.”
“The more we feel our hearts are agitated, the more we sense we are nervous, impatient, angry inside, the more we need to ask the Lord for the Spirit of peace,” he said.
Pilgrims gather at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022, for Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli address. Vatican Media
Pope Francis invited the crowd to pray with him, “Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.” He added, “And let us also ask this for those who live next to us, for those we meet each day, and for the leaders of nations.”
After praying the Regina Caeli at noon, Pope Francis commented on the beatification in Lyon, France, later on Sunday of Pauline Marie Jericot, who founded the Society of the Propagation of the Faith for the support of the missions in the early 19th century. The pope called her “a courageous woman, attentive to the changes taking place at the time, and had a universal vision regarding the Church’s mission.”
Pope Francis continued: “May her example enkindle in everyone the desire to participate through prayer and charity in the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.”
Pope Francis also noted that Sunday marked the beginning of “Laudato Si’ Week,” a weeklong reflection inspired by his 2015 encyclical on the environment. He called the observance an opportunity “to listen ever more attentively to the cry of the Earth which urges us to act together in taking care of our common home.”
Pope Francis also mentioned that May 24 marks the Feast day of Mary Help of Christians, who is “particularly dear to Catholics in China.”
He added that Mary Help of Christians is the patroness for Chinese Catholics and is located in the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai in addition to many churches and homes throughout the country.
“This happy occasion offers me the opportunity to assure them once again of my spiritual closeness” to believers in China, he said.
“I am attentively and actively following the often complex life and situations of the faithful and pastors, and I pray every day for them,” he said.
“I invite all of you to unite yourselves in this prayer so that the Church in China, in freedom and tranquility, might live in effective communion with the universal Church, and might exercise its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to everyone, and thus offer a positive contribution to the spiritual and material progress of society as well.”
Pope Francis also greeted participants in Italy’s annual pro-life demonstration, titled Scegliamo la vita, or in English, “Let’s Choose Life.”
“I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” Pope Francis said.
“Sadly, in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice,” the pope said.
“Let us remember that life is a gift from God! It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience,” he concluded.
Vatican City, Dec 1, 2020 / 05:45 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Tuesday appointed Bishop Michael Fisher, an auxiliary of Washington, to be the next bishop of the scandal-ridden Diocese of Buffalo, New York.
Fisher, 62, will take over leadership of Buffalo a… […]
Vatican City, Oct 16, 2019 / 10:01 am (CNA).- God wills the salvation of all persons, Pope Francis said in his General Audience Wednesday, refelcting on the Acts of the Apostles.
God “wants His children to overcome all particularism in order to be open to the universality of salvation,” the pope said Oct. 16 in St. Peter’s Square.
“This is the aim: to overcome particularism and open oneself to the universality of salvation, because God wants to save everyone. Those who are reborn by water and the Spirit – the baptized – are called to come out of themselves and open themselves up to others, to live close together, in the style of living together, which transforms every interpersonal relationship into an experience of fraternity.”
He said St. Peter is “the witness of this process of ‘fraternization’ that the Spirit wants to trigger in history, citing Peter’s vision in which he was told to eat animals that were impure in Jewish law.
“With this fact, the Lord wants Peter no longer to evaluate events and people according to the categories of the pure and the impure, but to learn to go beyond, to look at the person and the intentions of his heart,” Francis said. “What makes man impure, in fact, does not come from outside but only from within, from the heart. Jesus said this clearly.”
After his vision, St. Peter preached “the crucified and risen Christ and the forgiveness of sins to whoever believes in Him” to the household of Cornelius, a gentile, and baptized there.
“This extraordinary fact – it is the first time that something of this type has happened – becomes known in Jerusalem, where the brothers, scandalized by Peter’s behaviour, harshly reproach him. Peter did something that went beyond what was usual, beyond the law, and for this reason they rebuke him,” the pope stated.
“But after the encounter with Cornelius, Peter is more free from himself and more in communion with God and with others, because he has seen God’s will in action in the Holy Spirit.”
Because of this, St. Peter can “understand that the election of Israel is not the reward for merits, but the sign of the gratuitous call to mediate the divine blessing among pagan peoples.”
For Pope Francis, St. Peter teaches “that an evangelizer cannot be an impediment to the creative work of God … but one that fosters the encounter of hearts with the Lord.”
He asked: “How do we behave with our brothers and sisters, especially with those who are not Christians? Are we impediments to the encounter with God? Do we hinder or facilitate their encounter with the Father?”
The pope concluded, saying: “Today we ask for the grace to allow ourselves to be astonished by God’s surprises, not to hinder His creativity, but to recognize and encourage the ever new ways in which the Risen One pours out His Spirit into the world and attracts hearts.”
As of October of 2024, he had already promoted to cardinals almost 80% of the cardinals who will elect the next pope. And he keeps promoting to cardinals. What are the chances that the new Pope will be a preserver and continuator of his policies and have similar views on religion and politics? He is very clever about these matters. https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-appoints-21-new-cardinals-setting-record-for-number-of-electors/
“On Sunday, October 6, during the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis announced the creation of 21 new cardinals for the Catholic Church. This will bring the College of Cardinals to 256 members, 141 of whom will be eligible to vote in a papal conclave—a record-breaking number, surpassing the traditional limit of 120 electors. Of these 141 electors, 111 (79%) were appointed by Pope Francis.”
William Coyle: Agreeing to tolerate and be flexible towards mass murder and other crimes against humanity for which this pontificate’s political values and relativist morality have involved the Church?
Where do we go from here?
As of October of 2024, he had already promoted to cardinals almost 80% of the cardinals who will elect the next pope. And he keeps promoting to cardinals. What are the chances that the new Pope will be a preserver and continuator of his policies and have similar views on religion and politics? He is very clever about these matters.
https://catholicvote.org/pope-francis-appoints-21-new-cardinals-setting-record-for-number-of-electors/
“On Sunday, October 6, during the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis announced the creation of 21 new cardinals for the Catholic Church. This will bring the College of Cardinals to 256 members, 141 of whom will be eligible to vote in a papal conclave—a record-breaking number, surpassing the traditional limit of 120 electors. Of these 141 electors, 111 (79%) were appointed by Pope Francis.”
The modernists revolution continues in the church. It may take our Lords broom to clean out the church.
Or maybe our Lords way of sending a message of tolerance and flexiblity
William Coyle: Agreeing to tolerate and be flexible towards mass murder and other crimes against humanity for which this pontificate’s political values and relativist morality have involved the Church?