VATICAN CITY
Crux
Inés San Martín November 7, 2016
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
ROME- The past month has been a whirlwind for Joseph Tobin: on Oct. 9 Pope Francis surprised the world by including him on the list of the 17 new cardinals he’ll create later in the month. And on Monday, the Vatican announced his new destination: Newark, New Jersey.
“One of my favorite descriptions of the experience of faith is ‘a willingness to be surprised by God’,” Tobin said in a statement on Monday.
“By that standard, the last weeks have been exceptionally ‘faith filled’.”
As of Nov. 19, when the pontiff formally elevates Tobin, 64, to the Church’s most exclusive club in a ceremony held in Rome known as a consistory, the US prelate will become Newark’s first cardinal, in the diocese’s 163-year history.
His fluent Spanish will come useful for leading the city’s 1.2 million Catholics, an estimated half of whom are Hispanic.
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