The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, on Sunday October 25 appointed 13 new cardinals.
Pope Francis announced the new cardinals from eight countries while speaking from his window overlooking St Peter’s Square in Rome.
The appointment came one year after the pontiff named 13 cardinals in October 2019.
The new cardinals are the Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Kigali Archbishop Antoine Kambanda, representing one of the most Catholic countries in Africa, and Jose Fuerte Advincula, the Archbishop of Capiz in the Philippines, Asia’s most Catholic country.
The list also includes several Italians, including the head of the Vatican’s sainthood department, Marcello Semeraro, and the head of the Franciscan convent of Assisi, Fra Mauro Gambetti.
Others are Bishop Martin Grech of Malta, Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco of Santiago, Chile, Archbishop Cornelius Sim of Brunei, Archbishop Paolo Lodujice of Siena.
Felipe Arzimendi Esquivel, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s former observer to the United Nations in Geneva and a long time ambassador; Father Enrico Feroci, pastor of the Shrine of Holy Mary of Divine Love in Castel di Leva; and Father Raniero Cantalamessa, who for 40 years has served as the preacher for the Papal Household.
The cardinals will be installed in a ceremony in Vatican on November 28.
In all, the pope appointed nine cardinals under the age of 80. This means the appointees would vote in the next conclave.
Pope said he hoped that the new cardinals would help him “in the task of as bishop of Rome for the benefit of the holy people of God.”