In a flurry of pontifical activity, the Pope has named 21 new cardinals – one of them Archbishop Fernández, the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – including 18 who could be eligible to vote in a conclave to elect his successor. It has been estimated that with this new batch of cardinals, the Pope will have appointed about three-quarters of the electors. But to say as much is not to assume that he will ensure that his successor is in his image. The Pope proposes, God disposes.
The striking aspect of the new batch – and the impression of the Vatican as a cardinal-making factory is amusingly suggested in Christian Adams’s cover cartoon – is the proportion that are from outside the old centres of Christendom, from the margins of the Church and the global south, including some areas of particular concern. The most prominent of these is the admirable Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. His role is immensely challenging – he is widely respected for the way he has handled the problem of aggressive Jewish settler groups undermining the presence of Christians in Jerusalem – and this dignity is a way for Pope Francis to support his efforts.
Similarly the elevation of Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan, SJ, the Bishop of Hong Kong, must be seen as the Pope’s attempt to support the Christians of Hong Kong against the aggressive overreach of the Chinese Communist Party. Let’s hope this appointment will also be understood as support for the beleaguered and courageous Cardinal Zen.
The new cardinals will also include bishops from South Sudan (which the Pope visited recently), Tanzania and Malaysia. This is an acknowledgement that the centre of gravity within the Church has shifted from Europe to other continents. Yet Europe remains, after the Holy Land, the heartland of Christendom. And the fact that Paris, Milan, Berlin, Prague and Kraków are without cardinals can only be taken as a snub; especially given that Lisbon now has two.
We should not overstate the importance of these appointments; after all, it is the bishop who is the successor of the apostles, whereas cardinals are church dignitaries. Yet they do send a message about the Pope’s priorities.
And it seems that for now, the old centres of influence in the Church are giving way to the new. That is, perhaps, no bad thing.
