In May, Pope Francis announced that 21 men could be created cardinal on the consistory on Aug. 27. (One in every of these cardinals designate, Bishop Lucas Van Looy, has since requested to to not be made a cardinal.) Sixteen of the 20 are under the age of 80 and could be eligible to vote in a papal conclave. Eleven of them are from or based in countries outside of Europe and North America, with Paraguay, Singapore and East Timor gaining cardinals for the primary time on this appointment. Five are easy bishops, not archbishops, one other precedent set by Pope Francis.
With these recent cardinals, Pope Francis could have named nearly 63 percent of the electors who will select his successor, 83 out of 132 who’re eligible to vote. They represent the pope’s move to represent more of the world’s Catholics within the papal election process, because the variety of electors from Europe has steadily decreased in his reign as pope.
Asia
1. Archbishop Anthony Poola (India), 60, archbishop of Hyderabad
Archbishop Anthony Poola was born on Nov. 15, 1961, in Poluru, within the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the southeastern coast of the country. He shall be the primary Dalit, or “untouchable” in India’s caste system, to be created cardinal. He said that when friends in Sardinia called him in regards to the news, he didn’t consider it. But after the papal nuncio called, the archbishop said that he saw this decision as a part of the pope’s look after the “poorest of the poor,” especially provided that his region of Hyderabad is one in all the poorest within the country and has a big concentration of Catholics.
The elevation of Archbishop Poola is a signal from the pope that the bottom caste of Indian society matters to the church; greater than 60 percent of Catholics in India are Dalit.
Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrão and fellow Indian citizen Archbishop Anthony Poola will increase the variety of Indians within the College of Cardinals to 6.
2. Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão (India), 69, archbishop of Goa and Daman
Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, born on Jan. 20, 1953, in Goa, India, shall be the primary cardinal of Goa because the episcopal seat was created there in 1533. He currently serves because the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
He and fellow Indian citizen Archbishop Anthony Poola will increase the variety of Indians within the College of Cardinals to 6. Archbishop Ferrão’s inclusion within the consistory is indicative of Pope Francis’ wider goal of hearing more diverse voices throughout the church’s hierarchy, as he has invited more men from the peripheries of the church with minority Catholic populations. The state of Goa has played a vital role in the expansion of the Catholic Church in each India and Pakistan.
3. Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik (South Korea), 70, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy
Bishop Lazarus You Heung-sik has served because the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy (now called the Dicastery for the Clergy) since last August. He was born Nov. 21, 1951, within the Korean city of Daejeon. He entered the priesthood at 28, getting ordained in Rome in December of 1979.
You Heung-sik’s ordination as a bishop took place in August of 2003, and he succeeded because the bishop of the diocese of Daejeon in 2005. In his time as bishop, he served as president of the Justice and Peace Committee for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea, visiting North Korea 4 times, in response to his page on the dicastery’s website.
As prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, the bishop faced challenges of clericalism and sexual abuse amongst priests and deacons. In a June interview with Vatican News, he emphasized the importance of communion and humility in his recent role.
Archbishop William Goh’s appointment by Pope Francis will make him the first ever cardinal from Singapore.
4. Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye (Singapore), 65, archbishop of Singapore
Archbishop Goh was born in Singapore on June 25, 1957. He was ordained a priest in 1985, following an education on the Major Seminary at Penang (College General) and the Francis Xavier Major Seminary of Singapore, before then ending a licentiate in dogmatic theology on the Pontifical Gregorian University.
Archbishop Goh was appointed to his current position on May 22, 2013. His appointment by Pope Francis will make him the first ever cardinal from Singapore. In discussing his upcoming position with Vatican News, he highlighted the pope’s teachings on compassion and inclusivity throughout the church, including for divorcees and people within the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
While he previously voiced opposition to the repeal of Section 377A, a penal code in Singaporean law that criminalized sex between men, the archbishop has also opposed the criminal persecution of gay people. Archbishop Goh has since stated that the church would not take a stance on the law’s repeal or retainment, with news of the federal government supporting its repeal in August.
In his Vatican News interview, the archbishop also spoke in regards to the need of a secular government separate from and respectful of a diversity of religions, pointing to Singapore as a model for interreligious harmony and echoing his previous statements of the necessity to avoid “mixing religion with politics.”
Bishop Giorgio Marengo shall be 48 years old when he’s elevated to cardinal, making him the youngest since Karol Wojtyła, who became cardinal at 47.
5. Bishop Giorgio Marengo (Mongolia), 47, apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Bishop Giorgio Marengo shall be 48 years old when he’s elevated to cardinal, making him the youngest since Karol Wojtyła, who became cardinal at 47.
The Italian-born member of the Consolata Missionaries currently serves because the apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator, Mongolia, a post he has held since 2020. The country borders China and only has a Catholic population of about 1,300, which Bishop Marengo said brings challenges. In a 2021 interview, he said of his time there, “For me, it’s an ideal responsibility that brings me closer to the true meaning of the mission.”
BishopMarengo was born on June 7, 1974, and was ordained a priest in May of 2001. His elevation to a bishop took place on August 8, 2020, in Torino, Italy, where the Consolata Missionaries are based.
6. Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, S.D.B. (East Timor), 54, archbishop of Dili, East Timor
Archbishop Virgilio do Carmo da Silva was born on Nov. 27, 1967, putting him on the younger side of the consistory class. He took his first vows with the Salesians of Saint John Bosco in May of 1990 and his perpetual vows in March of 1997. He was ordained a priest the following 12 months, in December of 1998.
He has only served as an archbishop since 2019, when Pope Francis elevated the Diocese of Dili to an archdiocese. Archbishop da Silva said on the time that the Catholic Church in his country was “in a period of transition from a church of the suffering to 1 which is accompanying its people in an era of greater freedom in the trendy world,” in response to a 2019 interview with Catholic News Service.
He shall be the primary cardinal to represent the country of East Timor, which shares half of the island of Timor with neighboring Indonesia. East Timor achieved independence in 2002, and Archbishop da Silva has been a serious force in shaping the church within the predominantly Catholic country.
Bishop Baawobr shall be Ghana’s third cardinal upon the closing of the consistory. He said that he was completely shocked by the announcement.
Africa
7. Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr (Ghana), 62, of Wa, Ghana
Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr was born on June 21, 1959, in the town of Wa, Ghana. It was here that he could be ordained a priest with the Missionaries of Africa in July of 1987 at age 28. In 2010, Baawobr became the primary Black African superior of his order and served in that role for six years. When he accomplished his term, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Wa.
As bishop, he has sought to assist the mentally in poor health in Ghana. He has used his influence to fight against the country’s stigma around mental illness, organizing efforts to feed and clothe those living on the road. He has also spoken out against L.G.B.T.Q. rights, praising his country’s speaker in parliament for his political stance against the rights for these communities.
Bishop Baawobr shall be Ghana’s third cardinal upon the closing of the consistory. He said that he was completely shocked by the announcement. He had only just left Rome two days earlier after a pontifical council and “no person said anything” to him in regards to the news, in response to a recent interview.
Bishop Okpaleke is one in all five easy bishops created cardinal at the moment, and one in all the 2 West Africans on this group of cardinals-elect.
8. Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke (Nigeria), 59, bishop of Ekwulobia
Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, born on March 1, 1963, in Anambra, Nigeria, not removed from his current episcopal seat of Ekwulobia, has not had a simple path to becoming cardinal. Originally ordained in 1990, he was appointed bishop of Ahiara in December 2012, but his ordination occurred five months later, on May 21, 2013, outside the diocese due to hostility toward his appointment. Locals sent a letter to Pope Benedict XVI objecting to Bishop Okpaleke because he was not of the region’s ethnic origin of Mbaise.
After five years of being unable to enter his own cathedral, Bishop Okpaleke wrote a letter of resignation to Pope Francis, who accepted it in 2018. Two years later, the pope appointed Bishop Okpaleke as the pinnacle of the brand new diocese of Ekwulobia. The diocese from which it was formed, Awka, has the very best variety of priests in any African diocese, and the bishop of Awka had previously asked the pope for the creation of a diocese in Ekwulobia, a prayer which was finally answered by Bishop Okpaleke’s appointment.
Bishop Okpaleke is one in all five easy bishops created cardinal at the moment, and one in all the 2 West Africans on this group of cardinals-elect. He shall be the fourth Nigerian bishop within the College of Cardinals, and he said that Nigerians have much to supply to the worldwide synodal process with their varied experiences of church throughout the country.
Europe
9. Archbishop Arthur Roche (England), 72, prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Archbishop Arthur Roche was born on March 6, 1950, in Batley Carr, England. He was ordained in 1975 and ordained an auxiliary bishop in 2002. He became the bishop of Leeds in 2004 before being appointed to the Congregation for Divine Worship as its secretary in 2012. He’s currently the highest-ranked English cleric within the Vatican as prefect of the congregation.
Archbishop Roche is understood for the opinions he has voiced within the Catholic Church’s “liturgy wars,” saying that the church must be more unified in its liturgy throughout the world. He played an element within the implementation of “Traditionis Custodes,” Pope Francis’ 2021 document issued motu proprio on the promulgation of the Latin-rite Mass.
10. Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, L.C. (Spain), 77, president of the Governorate of the Vatican City State and of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State
Archbishop Vérgez was born in Salamanca, Spain, on March 1, 1945, and was later ordained as a priest in 1969. The appointment of the Archbishop of Villamagna in Proconsulari by Pope Francis makes him the primary Legionary of Christ to develop into a cardinal.
During his service, the archbishop has worn many alternative hats and been entrenched in Vatican offices. This includes serving as an archivist, head of the Holy See’s Web Office, secretary General of the Governorate and a Vatican representative on the Foundation Board for the Vatican Observatory. Most recently, before his ascension to develop into a cardinal, he was appointed as president of the Governorate of the Vatican City in October 2021, which covers several different administrative roles across the country’s government.
Archbishop Aveline is best known for his work in facilitating inter-faith dialogue between Catholics and members of other religions.
11. Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline (France), 63, archbishop of Marseille
Archbishop Aveline was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, in what was then French Algeria on Dec. 26, 1958. He was ordained as a priest for the archdiocese in 1984 after attending the interdiocesan seminary of Avignon, later becoming a bishop in 2013.
The archbishop is best known for his work in facilitating inter-faith dialogue between Catholics and members of other religions. He served as president of the Council for Interreligious Relations and Recent Religious Currents from 2017 to 2022, previously serving as consultor of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue—now often known as the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue—from 2008 to 2013.
His quote on “discovering the religion a little bit more deeply through others” was an inspiration for a three-day dialogue between Muslims and Christians on the Taizé Ecumenical Community in 2018. This is particularly necessary in France, where Islamophobia and a colonial past—particularly in coping with its former colony of Algeria—still impact outside perceptions of the country.
“This feeds fears within the Christian community in addition to raising real questions that we’d like to deal with,” said the then-bishop in 2016, with reference to concerns over the association of faith and violence in terrorist groups like ISIS.
Nonetheless, the archbishop’s commitment to the interfaith dialogue between Islam and Catholicism has not been welcomed by all. Within the wake of his appointment by Pope Francis to steer Marseilles in 2019, the archbishop was attacked as “pro-Islam” and heretical by LifeSiteNews, Crisis Magazine and other English-languageCatholic sites.
Pope Francis had also appointed Bishop Cantoni to serve on the Dicastery for Bishops, the office that selects bishops, in July.
12. Bishop Oscar Cantoni (Italy), 71, bishop of Como
Bishop Cantoni was born in Lenno, Italy, on Sept. 1, 1950. After an education in classical studies on the Somascan Fathers-run Gallio College of Como, he was ordained a priest in 1975. Prior to his current and future roles, Bishop Cantoni served as bishop of Crema. Pope Francis had also appointed the bishop to serve on the Dicastery for Bishops, the office that selects bishops, in July; it was during this time that the pope appointed women to serve on the dicastery for the primary time.
In March of this 12 months, Bishop Cantoni delivered a homily on the anniversary of Father Luigi Giussani’s death. Father Giussani was the founding father of Communion and Liberation, a lay Catholic movement that began in Italy.
“Despite our apostolic commitment, throughout the society wherein we work, the fruit of our common baptismal priesthood, we frequently experience the prevalence of evil, emptiness and nothingness, a lot resistance to the work of grace, and we feel that our efforts appear to be in vain and so don’t bear the specified fruits,” Bishop Cantoni said in his homily.
Americas
13. Bishop Robert Walter McElroy (United States), 68, bishop of San Diego
Bishop Robert W. McElroy was born on Feb. 5, 1954, in San Francisco, Calif. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, near Bishop McElroy’s San Diego, is normally headed by a cardinal, but Pope Francis will create Bishop McElroy, who’s perceived to be closely aligned with the pope’s vision for the church, as cardinal as a substitute. Bishop McElroy is the one North American to be appointed on this consistory.
He’s strongly in support of the Synod on Synodality and was one in all two U.S. bishops to take part in the Synod on the Amazon in 2019. In a recent article for America, Bishop McElroy wrote, “Synodal formation provides a pathway for renewing the interior lifetime of the church and going to the peripheries of our world to proclaim the Gospel.”
Now, Archbishop Steiner and his archdiocese have a spot to represent the Amazon, its people and its concerns on the world stage.
14. Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, O.F.M. (Brazil), 71, archbishop of Manaus
Archbishop Leonardo Steiner, O.F.M., born on Nov. 6, 1950, in Forquihinas, Brazil, is the first cardinal from the Amazon region of South America. He was ordained as a Franciscan in 1978 and was appointed as a bishop in Brazil in 2005. He played a number one role within the 2019 Synod on the Amazon, which focused on indigenous voices within the conversation about climate change and pastoral challenges. He has also served because the secretary general of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil.
Pope Francis has noted the importance of the Amazon previously, and his creation of Archbishop Steiner as cardinal, combined with the Synod on the Amazon, prove this dedication to the rainforest and its inhabitants. Archbishop Steiner was named because the vice chairman of the Bishops’ Conference on the Amazon when it was formed in 2020. Now, Archbishop Steiner and his archdiocese have a spot to represent the Amazon, its people and its concerns on the world stage.
15. Archbishop Paulo Cezar Costa (Brazil), 55, archbishop of Brasília
Archbishop Costa was born in Valença, Brazil, on July 20, 1967. He was ordained a priest in 1992, later becoming a professor on the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and serving in other academic roles on the Paulo VI Institute of Philosophy Higher Institute of Theology of the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro.
The archbishop hosts a day by day YouTube series called “Catechetical Moment with Don Paulo Cezar Costa,” where he discusses a reading from the Bible. He’ll develop into the third-youngest cardinal elector within the College.
“I feel that the cardinal is a person who, in his fidelity to Jesus Christ and in his service to the pope, must seek to hold forward what the Spirit has been in search of to create and do within the church, at this moment, through the gift of Pope Francis and thru his ministry,” said Archbishop Costa in an interview with Vatican News about his appointment (translated by America).
16. Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores (Paraguay), 71, archbishop of Asunción
Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores will develop into the primary cardinal from Paraguay upon his creation by Pope Francis. The news brought joy across the country, and ArchbishopMartínez Flores said in an interview with Vatican News, “After 400 years of getting this history, being the first church within the Río de la Plata, expectations were high,” he said (translated by America).
He has served as a bishop across the country in five different dioceses: San Lorenzo (2000), San Pedro (2007), the Paraguay Military Ordinariate (2012), Villarica del Espiritu Santo (2018) and Asunción (2022). Upon his move to Asunción in February, he was appointed as archbishop.
In a speech in April, he spoke in regards to the widespread corruption in Paraguay, much of which is finished by Catholics, and said, “We bishops, clergy, consecrated life and lay people need to look at our conscience on our evangelization.”
The opposite men created cardinal are ineligible to vote within the College of Cardinals as a consequence of their age. They’re: retired Archbishop Jorge Jiménez Carvajal of Cartagena, Colombia, 80; retired Archbishop Arrigo Miglio of Cagliari, Italy, who turns 80 on July 18; Rev. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J. (Italy), professor of canon law, who turns 80 July 5; and Msgr. Fortunato Frezza, Italy, canon of St. Peter’s Basilica, 80.
With reporting by Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Jim McDermott, S.J., associate editors at America.
Correction: This text has been updated to notice that one in all the 21 cardinals-designate announced by Pope Francis in May, retired Bishop Lucas Van Looy of Ghent, Belgium, requested that Pope Francis not make him a cardinal to stop abuse survivors “from being hurt again.” This text has been updated with a picture of Cardinal-designate Virgilio do Carmo da Silva of Dili, East Timor. An earlier version mistakenly showed Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of the Philippines.
