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Pope Francis heralds Vatican overhaul with new batch of Third World cardinals
By John Bingham
Pope Francis has put his stamp firmly on the Roman Catholic Church by naming 20 new cardinals from countries as diverse as Ethiopia, Vietnam and Panama. The Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the choices signalled that the Pope does not feel “chained to tradition” as he shifts the balance of power in the Church towards the developing world. The clerics from 14 different countries include the first men from Tonga, Burma and Cape Verde to become so-called “princes of the Church”. The list also includes five retired bishops and archbishops too old to take part in the conclave to choose the next Pope but who, he said, were “distinguished for their pastoral charity”. Pope Francis, who declared within days of his election in 2013 that he wanted a “poor church for the poor”, has now appointed 39 cardinals. That includes 31 cardinal electors, those under the age of 80 who would be eligible to elect his successor in the next conclave – a quarter of the total. Significantly there was no one from the United States on the list – the second time since Francis become Pope that a new batch of Cardinals had been announced without any names from the Church’s biggest source of income. And while the Archbishops Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona and Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento in Italy were granted red hats, the list did not include the Patriarch of Venice or Archbishop of Turin – sees which have traditionally carried automatic appointment to the College of Cardinals. Fr Lombardi said it showed the Pope did not feel bound by the traditions of so-called “Cardinalatial sees”. He said it was also significant that only one of the new cardinal electors was an official in the Curia, the Vatican's central administration – Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Pope Francis underlined the point announcing he will also be holding a two-day meeting with all cardinals in February to "reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia". Three of those chosen as cardinals hold the title of bishop rather than archbishop – José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán of Panama, Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Cape Verde and Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga. At 53, Bishop Mafi will also be the youngest cardinal while the list also includes one 95-year-old, Archbishop Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop emeritus of Manizales, Colombia. The new cardinal electors are: Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo, Italy Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon of Hanoi, Vietnam Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia,Mexico Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon, Burma Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok, Thailand Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento, Italy Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet of Montevideo, Uruguay Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid, Spain Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán of David, Panama Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde, Cape Verde Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga The five emeritus bishops and archbishops also made cardinals 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
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