By Sarah Mac Donald - 23 February, 2014
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI made a surprise appearance at Saturday’s consistory during which Pope Francis created nineteen new cardinals.
It was the first time the retired pontiff has attended a papal rite since his resignation in February 2013.
Sixteen of the nineteen new cardinals are cardinal electors and are thus eligible to elect a new pope in a conclave.
They will boost the number of cardinal electors from 106 to 122.
The new cardinals hail from Italy, Germany, Britain, Nicaragua, Canada, Ivory Coast, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Chile, Burkina Faso, the Philippines and Haiti. The non-electors come from Italy, Spain and Saint Lucia.
In his address, Pope Francis warned the new cardinals that “Whenever a worldly mentality predominates, the result is rivalry, jealousy, factions.”
Pointing out what the Church needs, he said, “She needs you, your cooperation, and even more your communion, with me and among yourselves.”
“The Church needs your courage, to proclaim the Gospel at all times, both in season and out of season, and to bear witness to the truth.”
“The Church needs your prayer for the progress of Christ’s flock, the prayer which, together with the proclamation of the Word, let us not forget, is the primary task of the Bishop.”
“The Church needs your compassion, especially at this time of pain and suffering for so many countries throughout the world.”
Pope Francis also expressed the Church’s “spiritual closeness to the ecclesial communities and to all Christians suffering from discrimination and persecution.”
“We must fight against every form of discrimination. The Church needs our prayer for them, that they may be firm in faith and capable of responding to evil with good. And this prayer of ours extends to every man and women suffering injustice on account of their religious convictions.”
Lastly, he said the Church needed the cardinals to be peacemakers “building peace by our words, our hopes and our prayers: let us therefore invoke peace and reconciliation for those peoples presently experiencing violence and war.”
86-year-old Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI entered St Peter’s through a side entrance, and walked to his seat using a walking stick. Dressed in a long white overcoat, he sat in the front row with the cardinals.
When he reached the front of the basilica to start the ceremony, Pope Francis greeted Benedict, who took off his white skull cap in a sign of respect and obedience.
Even though the crowd had been asked to refrain from applause during the ceremony, they clapped when Benedict walked in and again when his name was mentioned in an address by one of the new cardinals.
The new cardinal electors are aged 55 to 74. Archbishop Aurelio Poli, 66, is Pope Francis’s successor in Buenos Aires. Also from Latin America are the archbishops of Managua in Nicaragua, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Santiago in Chile.
Two of the new cardinals are from Africa: the archbishops of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Abidjan in Ivory Coast. From Asia are the archbishops of Seoul in South Korea and Cotabato in the Philippines.
Archbishop Chibly Langlois, 55, is the first cardinal from Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemispherei.
Only four of the cardinal electors are Vatican officials, among them Archbishop Pietro Parolin, 59, the Vaticna’s new secretary of state, and Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, 66, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.
TITULAR CHURCHES OF NEW CARDINALS
1. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, title of Santi Simone e Giuda Taddeo a Torre Angela.
2. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, diaconate of Sant’Anselmo all’Aventino.
3. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller, diaconate of Sant’Agnese in Agone.
4. Cardinal Beniamino Stella, diaconate of Santi Cosma e Damiano.
5. Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols, title of Santissimo Redentore e Sant’Alfonso in via Merulana.
6. Cardinal Leopoldo Jose Brenes Solorzano, title of San Gioacchino ai Prati di Castello.
7. Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, ISPX, title of San Giuseppe all’Aurelio.
8. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, title of Sant’Emerenziana a Tor Fiorenza.
9. Cardinal Orani Joao Tempesta, O.Cist., title of Santa Maria Madre della Provvidenza a Monte Verde.
10. Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, title of Santa Cecilia.
11. Cardinal Mario Aurelio Poli, title of San Roberto Bellarmino.
12. Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-Jung, title of San Crisogono.
13. Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, SDB, title of Santissimo Redentore a Valmelania.
14. Cardinal Philippe Nakellentuba Ouedraogo, title of Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino.
15. Cardinal Orlando B. Quevedo, OMI, title of Santa Maria “Regina Mundi” a Torre Spaccata.
16. Cardinal Chibly Langlois, title of San Giacomo in Augusta.
17. Cardinal Loris Francesco Capovilla, title of Santa Maria in Trastevere.
18. Cardinal Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, CMF, title of Sant’Angela Merici.
19. Cardinal Kelvin Edward Felix, title of Santa Maria della Salute a Primavalle.
