Pope announces names of new cardinals: Only one Curia member, many pastors from the peripheries

By Andrea Tornielli
Vatican Insider
January 4, 2015

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/concistoro-consistory-consistorio-38363/

Pope Francis has announced the names of the new cardinals who will receive the red biretta this coming February 14th. There will be 20 new “senators of the Church”,  from across 14 nations and five Continents. 15 of them are under 80 years old and would therefore be eligible to vote in a potential Conclave. Five of them are over 80 .
 

The new members of the College of Cardinals are as follows:

Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

Archbishop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)

Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)

Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)

Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy)

Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam)

Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico)

Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar)

Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand)

Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy)

Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay)

Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain)

Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá)

Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde)

Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

The five new cardinals who are over the age of 80, have “distinguished" themselves "for their pastoral charity in the service of the Holy See and of the Church,” the Pope said. He added that “they represent so many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given witness of love for Christ and for the people of God in particular Churches, in the Rome Curia, and in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See.”

They are:

José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales

Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus

Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber, Apostolic Nuncio

Luis Héctor Villaba, Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán

Júlio Duarte Langa, Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai

Francis seems to have respected the unwritten rule of not creating the current archbishop of a see with a retired cardinal under 80 years of age, a cardinal. Potential US candidates in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago will not therefore be receiving the red biretta and neither will the new Archbishop of Madrid.

Dominique Mamberti, the new Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, is the only Curia member appearing in the list of new cardinals. The Vatican’s former “minister of foreign affairs” was not yet a cardinal when  he carried out the only role within a Holy See dicastery where the title of cardinal is a given(as established in John Paul II’s  Apostolic Constitution “Pastor Bonus”).
 

None of the Pontifical Council presidents are to be created cardinals. Pontifical Councils are not ordinarily presided over by cardinals (except in the case of the ecumenism council led by Kurt Koch) and are going to be merged as part of the Curia reform process currently underway. The Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, the Frenchman, Jean-Louis Bruguès, did not feature in the list of cardinals-to-be either. Francis’ preference for diocesan bishops is therefore evident, as well as his focus on the southern parts of the world.
 

With today’s list, Francis repeats a decision he took during the Consistory in February 2014, which is not to automatically name cardinals the archbishops of certain sees considered "cardinalatial sees". According to another unwritten rule, the archbishops of these sees were traditionally created cardinals at the next possible Consistory. Benedict XVI had already begun to stray from this unwritten rule, making the heads of Italian dioceses wait, when in the past they would have received the red biretta even if their predecessors had not reached the age of 80. Today’s list shows that Francis is continuing along this line both with regard to Italian “cardinalatial sees” and foreign ones, choosing to bring pastors from other dioceses in to the College of Cardinals. Two examples are the Italian Archbishops of Ancona and Agrigento, Edoardo Menichelli and Francesco Montenegro respectively. In fact, of the list’s 14 new cardinal electors who are heads of dioceses, as many as 9 are pastors of local Churches that have never had a cardinal (David, Valladolid, Morelia, Ancona, Agrigento, Tonga, Santiago de Cabo Verde, Yangon) or have not had one for decades, Montevideo for example.

Father Federirco Lombardi, SJ, head of the Holy See Press Office, has published the following "notes" on the new Cardinals, whose names were announced by Pope Francis at the Angelus on Sunday:

"With respect to the number of 120 electors, there were 12 places 'open' in the College today or in the coming months. The Pope has slightly exceeded this number, but remained very close to it, such that it is substantially respected".

"The most evident criteria is evidently that of universality. Fourteen different countries are represented, including some that do not currently have a Cardinal, and some that have never had one. If the retired Archbishops and Bishops are counted, eighteen countries are represented. There are no new Cardinals from North America (the USA or Canada) because they already have a significant number, and that number has remained stable during the past year. (There is a new Mexican Cardinal)".

"The presence of countries that have never had a Cardinal (Capo Verde, Tonga, Myanmar) is noteworthy. These countries have ecclesial communities that are small or that represent a minority within their country. (The Bishop of Tonga is the President of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific; the Diocese of Santiago de Cabo Verde is one of the most ancient African Dioceses; the Diocese of Morelia in Mexico is in a region troubled by violence)".

The fact that only one of the new Cardinals is from the Roman Curia is also notable, while “Roman” Cardinals remain about a quarter of the electors. It is evident that the Pope intends to consider the posts of Prefects of the Congregations and of some other very important institutions within the Curia – as, in this case, the Tribunal of the Signatura – as Cardinalatial posts.

"The new nominations confirm that the Pope is not bound to the traditions of the 'Cardinalatial Sees' – which were motivated by historical reasons in different countries – in which the Cardinalate was considered almost “automatically” connected to such sees. Instead, we have several nominations of Archbishops and Bishops of sees that in the past have not had a Cardinal. This applies, for example, to Italy, Spain, Mexico, Panama… With regard to the retired nominees, the words of the Pope in his brief introduction should be noted: “They represent so many Bishops who, with the same pastoral solicitude” have served as pastors of Dioceses, but also in the Curia and in the diplomatic service. The cardinalatial nominations are intended, then, as a recognition given symbolically to some, but recognizing the merits of all".

"The youngest of the new Cardinals is Archbishop Tafi of Tonga (b. 1961), who will become the youngest member of the College of Cardinals. The oldest is Archbishop Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop emeritus of Manizales (b. 1919)".