ROME – Pope Francis raised 13 new cardinals to the very best rank within the Catholic hierarchy Saturday and instantly warned them to not use their titles for corrupt, private achieve, presiding over a rite marked from starting to finish through the coronavirus pandemic.
Two new “princes” of the church, from Brunei and the Philippines, didn’t make it to Rome on account of COVID-19 go back and forth restrictions, although they have been proven on large displays within the just about empty St. Peter’s Basilica. During the socially distanced rite, which clocked in at an surprisingly fast 45 mins, cardinals new and outdated wore protecting mask.
Maximum got rid of their mask once they approached a maskless Francis to obtain their pink hats, however Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first-ever African-American cardinal, saved his on.

Pope Francis attends a consistory rite the place 13 bishops have been increased to a cardinal’s rank in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. (Fabio Frustaci/POOL by the use of AP)
Throughout his homily, Francis warned the brand new cardinals in opposition to falling into corruption or the use of their new rank for private development, pronouncing that their new name, “Eminence,” doesn’t imply they must flow from their folks.
His feedback mirrored Francis’ consistent criticism concerning the conceitedness of the clerical magnificence, in addition to his present battles to battle corruption within the Vatican hierarchy.
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“Let’s recall to mind such a lot of varieties of corruption within the lifetime of the priesthood,” Francis advised the brand new cardinals, deviating from his ready textual content. In the event that they recall to mind themselves so grandly, “you gained’t be pastors just about the folks, you’ll simply be ‘Eminence.’ And if you’re feeling this fashion, you’ll have strayed off the street,” the pope warned.
The rite, referred to as a consistory, is the 7th of Francis’ hold forth and as soon as once more mirrored the Argentine pope’s effort to call cardinals from puts that experience by no means had them ahead of or whose provider to the church he needs to spotlight. 9 are beneath age 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a brand new pope, additional solidifying the vast majority of Francis-appointed, voting-age prelates within the Faculty of Cardinals.

A consistory rite the place 13 bishops have been increased to a cardinal’s rank in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. (Fabio Frustaci/POOL by the use of AP)
Gregory, the brand new archbishop of Washington, is the Roman Catholic Church’s first Black American cardinal. He advised The Related Press forward of the rite that he seen his appointment as “an confirmation of Black Catholics in the USA, the heritage of religion and constancy that we constitute.”
Gregory’s appointment comes after a 12 months of racial protests within the U.S. sparked through the most recent killing of a Black guy through a white police officer. Francis has recommended the protests and cited the American historical past of racial injustices.
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“There may be consciousness now of the will for racial reconciliation, an consciousness that I’ve now not noticed at this degree and at this depth ahead of,” Gregory mentioned.
Every other social justice-minded cardinal is the retired archbishop of Chiapas, Mexico, Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, who has championed the rights of Mexico’s indigenous peoples and spearheaded efforts to translate the Bible and liturgical texts into local languages.

Cardinals put on protecting mask as they attend a consistory rite the place 13 bishops have been increased to a cardinal’s rank in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. (Fabio Frustaci/POOL by the use of AP)
Francis visited Chiapas in 2016 and has lengthy championed the rights of indigenous peoples. “That may be one of the crucial causes (he made me a cardinal) however I will be able to’t verify it,” Esquivel mentioned all over a Zoom name.
The Vatican’s in-house theologian-preacher, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, additionally were given a pink hat, however he effectively argued in opposition to being made a bishop as effectively, pronouncing at his age — 86 — he could not take at the duty. He additionally eschewed a pink cassock for Saturday’s rite, the use of as a substitute his brown hooded friar’s gowns lined with a white “rochet” vestment.
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After the rite, Francis and the brand new cardinals paid a consult with to Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, who lives around the Vatican gardens in a transformed monastery. The Vatican mentioned Benedict — who’s 93 and frail — “expressed his pleasure on the consult with” and blessed every one.
The rite happened in opposition to the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which erupted in Italy in February and has noticed a resurgence this autumn. The Vatican is beneath a changed lockdown, with the Vatican Museums shuttered and Francis’ public basic audiences cancelled. As a substitute he holds them in personal, livestreamed.

Pope Francis attends a consistory rite the place 13 bishops have been increased to a cardinal’s rank in St. Peter’s Basilica on the Vatican, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. (Fabio Frustaci/POOL by the use of AP)
The cardinal applicants and others who got here to Rome from afar for Saturday’s provider have been required to go through 10 days of Vatican-mandated quarantine on the pope’s resort, the place foods have been dropped at their rooms.
Generally, consistories are stuffed with events and crowds, with days of receptions, Lots and dinners for the brand new cardinals and their pals. The consistory itself is typically adopted through “courtesy visits,” the place the brand new cardinals greet well-wishers and most people from the grandeur of their very own reception rooms within the Apostolic Palace or Vatican auditorium. This 12 months, there have been no courtesy visits, and every cardinal was once given a 10-guest prohibit.
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With Saturday’s new cardinals, Francis has named 73 of the 128 voting-age cardinals, when put next with 39 named through Pope Benedict XVI and 16 through St. John Paul II. Whilst the end result of a long term conclave can by no means be predicted, it’s now not a stretch to indicate {that a} hefty majority of as of late’s electors probably proportion the pastoral and doctrinal attitudes of the pope who named them.
The geographical make-up of the Faculty of Cardinals has additionally shifted beneath Francis clear of Europe, although Europe stays the best vote casting bloc with 53 electors. The Americas — North, Central and South and the Caribbean — in combination have 37 cardinal electors, even if an estimated 40% of the sector’s Catholics reside in Latin The us and the Caribbean.
Francis has persevered the fashion of naming cardinals from the “peripheries” of the Catholic Church: Brunei were given its first-ever cardinal with the Vatican’s ambassador to the rustic, Cardinal Cornelius Sim.
Rwanda additionally were given its handiest cardinal with the archbishop of Kigali, Antoine Kambanda, whose circle of relatives was once slaughtered all over the Rwandan genocide. Kambanda made the go back and forth to Rome for the rite; Sin stayed house because of COVID-19 restrictions.
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Historical past’s first Jesuit pope has additionally higher the choice of cardinals who belong to spiritual orders, naming 3 Franciscans in a 12 months through which the pope, who named himself after St. Francis of Assisi, launched an encyclical impressed through the saint’s name to fraternity and unity with the weakest.
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