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Pope Francis to create 13 new cardinals in October consistory

September 1, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Sep 1, 2019 / 05:12 am (CNA).- Pope Francis announced Sunday he will create 13 new cardinals, from every part of the world, in a consistory Oct. 5. Among them are 10 who are elegible to vote in a future conclave.

Coming from North America, Central America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, Pope Francis said Sept. 1 that “their origin expresses the missionary vocation of the Church, which continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all people on earth.”

Among those to be elevated to cardinal is Canadian Jesuit Fr. Michael Czerny, the head of the Migrants and Refugees section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Two other red hat recipients also work inside the Vatican. They are: Spanish Archbishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, prefect of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; and Portuguese Archbishop José Tolentino Mendonca, librarian of the Holy Roman Church.

From Africa are Archbishop Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Archbishop Cristobal Lopez Romero of Rabat in Morocco.

There is Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Jakarta in Indonesia and Bishop Alvaro Ramazzini of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. North America is represented only by Archbishop Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez of Havana, Cuba.

Archbishops Jean Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg and Matteo Zuppi of Bologna represent Europe.

Pope Francis will also elevate three bishops over the age of 80, and therefore ineligible to vote in a conclave, but who, he said, “have distinguished themselves for their service to the Church.”

They are: Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, emeritus of Nepte in Tunisia and a former president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, emeritus of Kaunas in Lithuania, he was arrested and persecuted under the soviet regime; and Bishop Eugenio Dal Corso, emeritus of Benguela in Angola, where he was a missionary.

As it stands now, the College of Cardinals has 215 members, 118 of whom are electors.

Pope Francis announced his intention to add to the College of Cardinals from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, after leading the Angelus Sept. 1.

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Cardinal Achille Silvestrini dies at age 95

August 29, 2019 CNA Daily News 1

Vatican City, Aug 29, 2019 / 12:15 pm (CNA).- Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, former prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches and a long-time Vatican diplomat, died at his home in the Vatican Aug. 29 at the age of 95.

Silvestrini served in the d… […]

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First Chinese bishop consecrated after Vatican-China deal

August 27, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, Aug 27, 2019 / 10:44 am (CNA).- A new bishop was consecrated Monday in Inner Mongolia, China, according to Asia News. Bishop Antonio Yao Shun is the first bishop to be consecrated in the country after a deal on bishop appointments was made with the Vatican last year.

Beijing and Vatican officials signed a provisional agreement on bishop appointments Sept. 22, 2018. The Vatican-China deal was intended to unify the underground Church and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

While the terms of the agreement have been kept confidential, it reportedly allows the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association to choose a slate of nominees for bishop. The deal has drawn significant criticism.

Bishop Antonio Yao Shun, 54, will head the Diocese of Jining in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, Asia News reports. The diocese has been without a bishop since the June 2017 death of Bishop John Liu Shigong.

Yao was consecrated in the Jining Cathedral on the morning of Aug. 26, with more than 120 priests concelebrating, a consecrator-bishop, and three co-consecrators, Asia News reports.

Contrary to usual Vatican practice, Yao’s nomination to the episcopacy was not published in the daily bulletin of the Holy See press office, and it is unknown whether Pope Francis appointed Yao prior to or after the signing of the Vatican-China deal.

Yao studied at the national seminary in Beijing. From 1994 to 1998 he was in the United States completing a specialization in liturgy. He also spent a period doing biblical studies in Jerusalem.

The bishop previously taught at the national seminary. From 1998 to 2004 he served as secretary of the liturgical commission of the Council of Chinese Bishops and the Patriotic Association. He has been vice director of the same commission since 2004.

Yao’s chosen episcopal motto is “Misericordes sicut pater,” which means “Be merciful as the Father is.”

Since 1957, the Church in China had been split between the “underground” Church, in full communion with Rome, and the state-run Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) for which the Chinese government appointed bishops.

The agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic is meant to end the split between the two.

The U.S. Commission on International Religion wrote in its 2018 report that last year China “advanced its so-called ‘sinicization’ of religion, a far-reaching strategy to control, govern, and manipulate all aspects of faith into a socialist mold infused with ‘Chinese characteristics.’” Christians, Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, and Falun Gong practitioners have all been affected.

Restrictions put in place in February 2018 made it illegal for anyone under age 18 to enter a church building.

Reports of the destruction or desecration of Catholic churches and shrines have come from across China, including the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, and Shandong.

Muslims, too, have come under pressure from the Chinese government. It is believed that as many as 1 million Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnoreligious group in China’s far west, are being detained in re-education camps where they are reportedly subjected to forced labor, torture, and political indoctrination.

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