“The purple-red of the cardinal’s habit, which is the color of blood, can become, for the worldly spirit, that of an eminent distinction. And you will no longer be the shepherd close to the people, you will feel that you are only ‘the eminence’. When you hear this, you will be astray ”. It is the warning that Pope francesco addressed the thirteen new cardinals, two of whom connected via the web and unable to come to Roma for the pandemic, appointed during the seventh consistory of his pontificate. An event that for the first time, precisely because of the coronavirus, is also become virtual with dozens of cardinals connected from all over the world to the celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica through a digital platform created especially for this consistory.
“Dear brothers, – he affirmed Bergoglio to the new cardinals – we all love a Jesus, we all want to follow him, but we must always be vigilant to stay on his path. Because with the feet, with the body we can be with him, but our heart can be far away, and lead us astray. Let’s think of many kinds of corruption in priestly life ”. Eloquent words that the Pope did not utter by chance when the Vatican, and in particular the Secretariat of State, is the subject of repeated financial scandals. The cardinal was absent at the consistory Angelo Becciu, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, dismissed by Francis and to which the Papa he has also removed the rights connected with the cardinalate, that is, he will no longer be able to enter any conclave.
Just by imposing the red hat on the successor of the Sardinian cardinal, the cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Bergoglio he affectionately told him: “Behave yourself”. The friendship between the two dates back to twenty years ago when they collaborated in the 2001 Synod of Bishops wanted by Saint John Paul II. A relationship that intensified when, just a month after his election, Francesco he nominated Semeraro secretary of the Council of Cardinals who helps him in the reform of the Roman Curia and in the government of the universal Church. Among the thirteen new cardinals, nine are voters, that is, less than 80 years old, and will be able to elect the new Papa and four have already passed the age for entry into the Sistine Chapel. Among them the preacher of the Papal Household, the Capuchin father, stands out Raniero Cantalamessa, the only priest to ask Francesco the dispensation for not being ordained bishop as the norm established by San Giovanni XXIII. “I want to die in my Franciscan habit – he explained Cantalamessa – something they would hardly have allowed me if I had been a bishop ”. In fact, at the consistory he presented himself with his simple habit and not with the red robe. A gesture much appreciated by the Pope made by an 86-year-old man, a well-known face on TV for his Sunday sermons, who also addressed a meditation to the cardinals both before the conclave of 2005, after the death of Saint John Paul II, both before that of 2013, after the resignation of Benedict XVI.
Instead, the new cardinal was ordained bishop Enrico Feroci, pastor of Santa Maria of Divine Love a Castel di Leva and former director of Caritas of Roma. As a deacon the Pope entrusted him with that of his church and commented: “It is your parish! The Pope makes a parish priest a cardinal ”. It had already happened with father Giulio Bevilacqua which, in 1965, Saint Paul VI he appointed cardinal leaving him pastor of Sant’Antonio a Brescia as he asked himself. Among the new cardinal Italian electors stand out Augusto Paolo Lojudice, archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino, always close to the Roma and the poor of the capital, where he was parish priest for a long time before becoming auxiliary bishop of Roma. E Mauro Gambetti, Conventual Franciscan and former custodian of Holy Convent of Assisi. The Pope has not yet communicated to him what his destination will be even though it is very likely that he will soon have a prestigious position in Vatican. Closes the list of Italians Silvano Maria Tomasi, who, however, is not an elector, apostolic nuncio, recently appointed special delegate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, a position that belonged to Becciu.
The other cardinal electors are: Mario Grech, general secretary of the Synod of Bishops, Antoine Kambanda, archbishop of Kigali in Rwanda, Wilton Daniel Gregory, archbishop Washington in the United States, the first African-American cardinal, known for his pro LGBT and anti positions Trump, the Spanish Celestino Aos Braco, archbishop of Santiago de Chile, Jose Fuerte Advincula, archbishop of Capiz in Philippines, e Huntersville sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei. The latter two, due to the pandemic, were unable to attend the celebration and it will be a representative of the Pope who will give them the red hat, the ring and the bull with the title. The last non-elector cardinal is, however, Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de las Casas in Mexico. At the end of the celebration, as is now customary, the eleven new cardinals present together with Francis went to visit Benedict XVI in the chapel of the Monastery Mother of the Church, inside the Vatican Gardens, where he lives after his resignation. TO ilfattoquotidiano.it the cardinal Grech he said he “found the Pope Emeritus very well and he even gave us a small speech”.
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