New cardinals to be elected by Pope; one Pakistani among others

Last Sunday the Pope Francis had announced that he will create 14 new cardinals in June coming from all over the world, including Iraq, Pakistan, Italy, Poland, Peru, Japan, Madagascar, and several Vatican officials.

According to Francis, the places of origin of the new cardinals shows the “universality of the Church, that continues to preach the merciful love of God throughout the earth.”

Christians are a vulnerable minority in Iraq, Pakistan and Japan.

Eleven of those new cardinals are under 80, meaning they’re eligible to participate in an eventual conclave to choose Francis’s successor. The consistory, meaning the ceremony for the creation of new cardinals, will take place in Rome on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The 11 new cardinals who will be active participants in a future conclave are:

• Patriarch Louis Raphaël I Sako, Iraqi, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon and the Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church.
• Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, Spaniard, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, Italian, Vicar General of Rome.
• Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Italian, Substitute of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
• Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, Polish, Almoner of the Office of Papal Charities.
• Archbishop Joseph Coutts, of Karachi, Pakistan.
• Bishop António Augusto dos Santos Marto, Bishop of Leiria-Fátima, Portugal.
• Archbishop Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno, Archbishop of Huancayo, Peru.
• Archbishop Désiré Tsarahazana, Archbishop of Toamasina, Madagascar.
• Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi, Archbishop of L’Aquila, Italy.
• Archbishop Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda, Archbishop of Osaka, Japan.

Francis also created three new cardinals who are above the age of 80, deciding to honour them for their service to the Church. These men are Archbishop Sergio Obeso Rivera, the Archbishop Emeritus of Xalapa, Mexico; Bishop Toribio Ticona Porco, the emeritus of Corocoro, Bolivia; and Father Aquilino Bocos Merino, a Spanish Claretian.

READ ALSO: First-Ever Marriage Performed on flight By Pope

PAKISTAN’S NEW CARDINAL

Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi — a strong proponent of inter-religious harmony — is set to be appointed as a cardinal by Pope Francis on June 29.

“I am very surprised at my elevation as cardinal,” Archbishop Joseph Coutts was quoted as saying by a leading news agency.

He said he is yet to be officially notified by the Vatican and looks forward “to traveling to the Vatican in June to receive the red hat.”

The selection of the Archbishop of Karachi is a proud moment for Pakistan’s Christian community as Coutts will be the second Pakistani archbishop to be honoured with the position after the death of Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro back in 1994.

Archbishop Coutts was ordained a priest in Lahore in January 1971 after receiving his training at Christ the King Seminary in Karachi.

Coutts is a doctor of philosophy and can speak several languages including English, Italian, German, French, Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi.

He is also the president of Pakistan Catholic Bishops Conference.

The Lahore-based archbishop previously served as a bishop in Faisalabad and Hyderabad.

READ ALSO: Feel free to breastfeed here, Pope tells mothers

For the last six years, Archbishop Coutts has been serving his community as Head Bishop at Saint Patrick’s Church in Karachi with focus on inter-faith harmony.

“Karachi is a major metropolitan city as compared to Faisalabad and there are more ethnicities and difficulties between religious sects here. To bring peace in the city and among people, we have to work on harmony and increase tolerance levels among every school of thought,” he stressed earlier in a talk with local media.

During his 14 years as bishop in Faisalabad, he established a committee to solve the religious differences between Muslims, Christians and Hindus.

The Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Germany awarded Bishop Coutts the 2007 Shalom Prize for his commitment to interfaith dialogue in Pakistan.

As of June 29, when the new cardinals are inducted, the total number of cardinals will be 227, of whom 125 will be under 80, meaning able to vote for a new pope. That’s well above the traditional ceiling of 120 electors established under Blessed Pope Paul VI.

This will be Francis’s fifth consistory after previous events in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, suggesting he is inclined to create new cardinals at a pace of roughly once every year.