Pope names 3 Africans among 20 Cardinals

Pope Francis has named 20 new cardinals, including three from Africa -Ethiopia, Cape Verde and Mozambique.

Fifteen of the new appointees are under 80, making them eligible to enter a conclave to elect the Pope’s successor.

Pope Francis said the appointment of cardinals from 14 countries from every continent in the world showed the Vatican’s “inseparable link” with Catholic Churches around the world.


They will be installed on February 14.

Pope Francis also said yesterday that he would lead a meeting of all cardinals to discuss reform of the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s administrative body, on February 12 and 13.
It is the second time Pope Francis has announced the appointment of new cardinals from a wide variety of countries.


Last January he named 19 new additions, including churchmen from Haiti and Burkina Faso, which a Vatican spokesman said reflected his commitment to the poor.
Appointing cardinals is the most powerful way for the Pope to shape the Catholic Church. 

He has now chosen over a quarter of all cardinals able to vote for the next Pope.
With his appointments, Pope Francis appears to be trying to reflect the diversity and growth of the Church in developing nations.

In his pre-Christmas address to cardinals, Pope Francis sharply criticised the Vatican bureaucracy, complaining of “spiritual Alzheimer’s” and “the terrorism of gossip”.

He wants to see an overhaul of the Church, bringing it closer to ordinary people.
He has previously said the Roman Catholic Church must strip itself of all “vanity, arrogance and pride” and humbly serve the poorest in society.

The 20 new cardinals ·
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti (France) ·
Archbishop Manuel Jose Macario do Nascimento Clemente (Portugal) ·
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel (Ethiopia) ·
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew (New Zealand) ·
Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli (Italy)
Archbishop Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon (Vietnam) ·
Archbishop Alberto Suarez Inda (Mexico)
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo (Myanmar) ·
Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij (Thailand) ·
Archbishop Francesco Montenegro (Italy). ·
Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet (Uruguay) ·
Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez Perez (Spain). ·
Bishop Jose Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan (Panama) ·
Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, (Capo Verde). ·
Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafia (Tonga) ·
Archbishop emeritus Jose de Jesus Pimiento Rodríguez (Colombia)* ·
Titular Archbishop Luigi De Magistris (Italy)* ·
Titular Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber (Germany)* ·
Archbishop emeritus Luis Hector Villalba (Argentina)* ·
Bishop emeritus Julio Duarte Langa (Mozambique)* ·

Cardinal emeritus, without voting rights