ROME – Pope Francis installs 21 new cardinalsmany of whom are key figures in his reform agenda: a Dominican preacher who acted as spiritual father at Francis’ recent gathering of bishops, a Neapolitan “street priest” like himself, and a Peruvian bishop who strongly supported his crackdown abuse. .

Francis’ 10th consistory aimed at creating new princes of the Church is also the largest infusion of voting-age cardinals in his 11-year pontificate. further cementing its footprint on the group of men who will one day elect his successor. With Saturday’s additions, Francis will have created 110 of the 140 cardinals under the age of 80, therefore eligible to vote in a conclave.

This consistory also brings the number of cardinals of voting age well beyond the limit of 120 men set by St. John Paul II. But 13 existing cardinals will turn 80 next year, bringing the numbers back down.

This consistory is also notable because the 21 men raised are not the same ones Francis named on October 6 when he announced an unusual consistory in December.

One of Francis’ first choices, Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, bishop of Bogor, asked not to be named a cardinal “because of his desire to grow further in his life as a priest,” the Vatican said. Francis quickly replaced him with the Archbishop of Naples, Domenico Battaglia, known for his pastoral work in the slums and rough neighborhoods of Naples.

Which country gets the most new cardinals?

Battaglia is one of five Italians to receive the red hat, maintaining the once-dominant Italian presence in the College of Cardinals. Turin welcomes a cardinal in its archbishop, Roberto Repole, as does Rome: Baldassare Reina, who on the same day announced that he would become a cardinal, also learned that Francis had promoted him to the position of senior administrator of the diocese of Rome.

Francis, who is technically bishop of Rome, has for years led a reorganization of the diocese of Rome and its pontifical universities. Reina – who is also grand chancellor of the preeminent Pontifical Lateran University – will be responsible for implementing the reform.

Another Italian is the oldest cardinal: Angelo Acerbi, a 99-year-old retired Vatican diplomat. He is the only one among the 21 new cardinals to be over 80 years old and therefore not able to vote during a conclave. Francis’ picks Saturday also include the youngest cardinal: the 44-year-old head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, Mykola Bychok.

Another Italian is one of two Vatican priests who hold positions in the Holy See who don’t usually wear the red hat: Fabio Baggio is an undersecretary in the Vatican’s development office. Francis also decided to make George Jacob Koovakad, the priest who organizes the pope’s trips abroad, a cardinal.

Other choices play a leading role in Francis’ reforms.

The Archbishop of Lima, Peru, Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio, recently made headlines for an extraordinary essay he wrote for the newspaper El Pais, in which he called for the suppression of a Peruvian Catholic movement influential, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitaewhich is also present in the United States

Castillo called the group a “failed experiment” by the Latin American church, one of several right-wing conservative movements that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a counterweight to more left-wing liberation theology.

“My hypothesis is that Sodalitium obeys a political project,” writes Castillo. “It is the resurrection of fascism in Latin America, cleverly using the Church through sectarian methods.”

Francis recently expelled the founder of Sodalitium and several prominent members following a Vatican investigation.

What are the geographical distributions?

Castillo is one of five new Latin American cardinals appointed by the first Latin American pope in history. They include Archbishop of Santiago del Estero, Argentina, Vicente Bokalic Iglic; the Archbishop of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jaime Spengler; the Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib and the Archbishop of Guayaquil, Ecuador, Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera.

Francis has long sought to expand the geographic diversity of the College of Cardinals to show the universality of the Church, particularly where it grows. Asia has two new cardinals: Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, archbishop of Tokyo; and Pablo Virgilio Sinogco David, bishop of Kalookan, Philippines. Africa also welcomed two new cardinals: the archbishop of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ignace Bessi Dogbo, and the bishop of Algiers, Algeria, Jean-Paul Vesco.

“There has been no African pope, but it is a possibility in the Church,” Dogbo said in an interview on the eve of his installation. “And I think that this eventuality – which is not necessarily a requirement – if this eventuality were to arise, the universal Church should be ready to assume it.

Francis also called on the Archbishop of Tehran, Iran, Dominique Joseph Mathieu, the Bishop of Belgrade, Serbia, Ladislav Nemet, while the only North American cardinal named is the Archbishop of Toronto, Frank Leo .

Lithuanian-born cardinal-elect Rolandas Makrickas has a special task in this pontificate: as archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, he welcomes Francis every time the pope returns from a trip abroad, because the pope likes to pray before an icon of the Madonna in the church. Additionally, Makrickas oversaw a recent financial reform of the basilica and was reportedly involved in identifying Francis’ future resting place, since the Argentine pope said he would be buried there.

The Pope’s Preacher

Perhaps the best-known new cardinal of all those who have followed Francis’ reform agenda is Dominican Timothy Radcliff, the spiritual father of the just-concluded synod, or gathering of bishops. This years-long process aimed to make the Church more inclusive and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics, particularly women.

A British theologian, the white-robed Radcliffe often provided enlightening, even humorous, interventions during debates and retreats that lasted for weeks. At one point, he sparked a mini-storm by suggesting that outside financial pressures had prompted African bishops to reject Francis’ permission to allow blessings for same-sex couples. He later said he simply meant that the African Catholic Church was under pressure from other well-funded faiths.

As the synod drew to a close, it offered valuable perspective.

“Often we have no idea how God’s providence works in our lives. We do what we believe is right and the rest is in the hands of the Lord,” he told the congregation. “This is just a synod. There will be others. We don’t have to do everything, let’s just try to take the next step.

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