Brief portraits of the appointees

Extensive expansion of the College: These are the 21 new cardinals

Vatican City - The new cardinals reflect the diversity of the Catholic Church, its cultures and areas of responsibility. From the very young to the very old, from Curia officials to the Archbishop of Tokyo, there is a lot represented. A brief introduction to the new appointees.

Published  on 07.10.2024 at 00:01  – by Sabine Kleyboldt, Ludwig Ring-Eifel und Christoph Schmidt (KNA)

Pope Francis will elevate 21 clergymen to cardinals on 8 December. He announced this on Sunday. 20 of them are currently eligible to take part in a papal election as they have not yet reached the age of 80. An overview of the cardinals-designate with brief biographies.

Archbishop Angelo Acerbi (99), a priest since 1948, entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1956 and worked at the papal missions in Colombia, Brazil, France, Japan and Portugal as well as in the foreign policy department of the Secretariat of State. In 1974, Pope Paul VI appointed him Pro-Nuncio in New Zealand and Apostolic Delegate in the Pacific Ocean and elevated him to Archbishop. John Paul II sent him to Colombia as nuncio. There, a guerrilla organisation took him hostage for several weeks. The Italian later represented the Holy See in Hungary, Moldova and the Netherlands. He was Prelate of the Order of Malta from 2001 to 2015.

Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio (74) has been Archbishop of the Peruvian capital diocese of Lima since 2019. After studying in Rome and being ordained a priest in 1984, he taught as a professor of theology in Lima. In his home country of Peru, Castillo also worked in university chaplaincy and was involved in youth work as a pastor. Appointed Archbishop of the capital's diocese by Pope Francis, he spoke out in favour of recognising the election victory of left-wing presidential candidate Pedro Castillo in 2021. The Archbishop of Lima wants to give lay people responsibility for the leadership of parishes, but knows that this is currently incompatible with canon law. As a cardinal, however, he is likely to strengthen the progressive influence at the top of the church.

Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic (72) has an unusual career behind him: a few months after taking office, Pope Francis initially appointed him bishop of the Argentinian diocese of Santiago del Estero in 2013. In July 2024, the Pope then upgraded the small diocese to the "See of the Primacy of Argentina" in a surprising move. The title had been held by the archbishopric of the capital Buenos Aires since 1936. The decision is seen as historical reparation, as Santiago del Estero is the oldest ecclesiastical seat on Argentinian soil. This also fits in with Francis' policy of paying more attention to the "margins of the Church". The new Primate of Argentina is also a member of the Congregation of the Mission (CM), an order-like community.

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi
Bild: ©KNA/Henning Schoon

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, has been President of Caritas Internationalis since 2023.

Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera (68) is head of the archdiocese of Guayaquil in Ecuador and president of the local bishops' conference. He belongs to the Franciscan order - a community that Francis has great sympathy for. Cabrera has held leading positions in his order. A priest since 1983, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Cuenca in 2009 before Francis transferred him to his current post in Guayaquil in 2015. Cabrera became famous when he clashed with Ecuador's President Raphael Correa in 2012 when he had religious images removed from hospitals. He also made a name for himself as an advocate for indigenous people in his country.

Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib (67), Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, initially worked as an engineer for several years before turning to theology and being ordained a priest in 1991. This was followed by studies in moral theology and bioethics in Rome. Chomali, who describes himself as a descendant of Palestinians, then taught at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Concepcion. His successor Francis transferred him to the head of the capital's diocese in 2023. In the church abuse scandal in Chile, he took a clear stance in favour of dealing with the crimes committed by clergy.

Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi (65) comes from the other side of the world from Rome, just like the Argentinian Francis. In 2017, the Pope appointed the Japanese Archbishop of Tokyo. Two years later, Francis travelled to the country himself - a declared heartfelt wish of the Pope - and was received by Kikuchi. Catholics are a tiny minority in Japan. Nevertheless, Kikuchi, who belongs to the religious order of the Steyler Missionaries, is well connected in the world church. In 2014, Francis appointed the then Bishop of Niigata to the Vatican Office for the Evangelisation of Peoples. Kikuchi has also been Chairman of the Japanese Bishops' Conference since 2022. The following year, he was elected President of Caritas Internationalis.

Bishop Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade
Bild: ©KNA/Cristian Gennari/Romano Siciliani

László Német is Archbishop of Belgrade.

Pablo Virgilio Siongco David (65) has been Bishop of Kalookan in the Philippines, one of only two majority Catholic countries in Asia, since 2016. He was ordained a priest in 1983 during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and studied in Belgium at the Catholic University of Louvain and in Jerusalem. He is considered an expert on the Bible and has published several books on the Holy Scriptures. In his home country, he has also emerged as a fierce critic of authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte, who accused him of alleged drug use in 2018. David, whom Francis appointed Bishop of Kalookan in the capital region of Manila in 2015, also heads the Philippine Bishops' Conference.

Ladislav Nemet (68) had passed through many stages in his life as a clergyman before Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop in the Serbian capital Belgrade in 2022. There he leads the small Catholic minority. Nemet, who belongs to the Hungarian minority, took on roles in the Philippines, Poland, Austria, Croatia and Hungary for his religious order, the Steyler Missionaries. In 2008, he became Bishop of Zrenjanin. He also worked at the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the UN in Vienna. Today, in addition to his office as Archbishop, Nemet is also Chairman of the "Bishops' Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius", which is spread across several Balkan countries, and Vice-President of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences.

The Archbishop of Porto Alegre in Brazil, Jaime Spengler (64), is an official heavyweight of the Church in South America. As President of the Latin American Bishops' Council CELAM, the Franciscan, who is descended from German emigrants, is one of the most important Catholic voices on the continent. Since 2023, Spengler has also headed the Bishops' Conference in Brazil, the country with the world's largest Catholic population. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1990, he held a number of ecclesiastical and academic positions. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him auxiliary bishop in Porto Alegre in 2010, followed three years later by his promotion to archbishop under Francis. At a preparatory meeting in Bogota for the current Synod on Synodality, he called on the participants to make courageous changes in the church.

 Pope Francis and Jaime Spengler
Bild: ©KNA/Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani

As President of the Council of Bishops CELAM, Porto Alegre's Archbishop Jaime Spengler is a heavyweight of the Church in Latin America.

Three months ago, Ignace Bessi Dogbo (63) took office as Archbishop of Abidjan. The archdiocese covers the largest urban centre in Côte d'Ivoire with its major social challenges. However, the country also symbolises the coexistence of different faiths, with the population divided roughly equally between Christians, Muslims and followers of West African religions. Dogbo, who has been a priest since 1987, gained experience in both academic teaching and parish ministry. In 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Katiola. From 2017 to 2023, he was also President of the Bishops' Conference of his country.

Jean-Paul Vesco (62) has been Archbishop of Algiers since February. Born in Lyon, the law graduate initially worked as a lawyer in Paris for several years before joining the Dominicans and becoming a priest in 2001. After studying at their convent of St Etienne in Jerusalem, he moved to Tlemcen in Algeria to found a new branch of his order. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Oran; in 2021, Francis appointed him Archbishop in the Algerian capital. Vesco was the first bishop to join the Vatican sports team "Athletica Vaticana". The passionate marathon runner said he ran his personal best time of 2:52 hours in New York in 1989.

Paskalis Bruno Syukur (62) has been Bishop of Bogor in Indonesia since 2014, which the Pope only visited in September. He was ordained a priest in 1992. Like other newly elected cardinals, Syukur belongs to the Franciscans. He was their provincial in Indonesia from 2001 and has been the Asia and Oceania representative of the General Council of the Franciscans in Rome since 2009. In 2019, the Pope appointed him as a member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life for five years.

Ignace Bessi Dogbo
Bild: ©KNA/Vatican Media/Romano Siciliani

Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Archbishop of Korhogo (Ivory Coast), at the first round of the Synod on Synodality in October 2023.

As Archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan, Dominique Joseph Mathieu (61) works at a focal point of the current crisis in the Middle East. However, the small Latin community in Iran does not play a direct role politically; the majority of Iranian Catholics belong to the Chaldean and Armenian Catholic Churches. Mathieu is also a Franciscan. The Belgian, who was ordained a priest in 1989, fulfilled a number of international tasks for his order, including as novice master in the provincial custodianship of the Orient and the Holy Land in Lebanon. Mathieu studied Arabic. He has headed the archdiocese based in the capital Tehran since 2021.

Roberto Repole (57) has headed one of the oldest dioceses in the Catholic Church, which is traditionally associated with the cardinalate, as Archbishop of Turin since 2022. After his ordination to the priesthood in 1992, Repole initially worked for a short time in parish pastoral care. Since then, he has taught theology at various seminaries and universities. From 2011 to 2016, he was chairman of the Italian Theological Association. In the Vatican, he is a member of an agency for quality control of theological training centres, and in Turin he is a member of the Ecumenical Commission, among others. He is a member of the Education Commission of the Italian Bishops' Conference.

Born in Sicily, Baldassarre Reina (53) has been the key figure for Pope Francis in the reorganisation of his diocese of Rome since 2022. At the same time as announcing the title of cardinal, he appointed him vicar general in Italy's capital diocese on Sunday. This marks the end of a sometimes confusing transitional period, which led to the transfer of the long-standing head of the diocese, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, and other changes at the top of the diocese. The unresolved scandal following allegations of abuse against the former Jesuit priest Marco Rupnik, who had long been supported by De Donatis, played a role in the background. With his appointment as Vicar General and Cardinal, Reina has clearly and indisputably moved to the top of the extensive administration and the very numerous clergy in Rome. If he proves his worth, he will be able to keep the Pope's back free for other challenges.

Archbishop Roberto Repole
Bild: ©picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com | LaPresse.Sonnessa Sara

Archbishop Roberto Repole has headed the Archdiocese of Turin since 2022.

Like Pope Francis, the Archbishop of Toronto, Francis Leo (52), has Italian ancestors - his parents came to Canada with their families as children. After being ordained a priest in 1996, he initially worked in parish pastoral care and as a religious education teacher. This was followed by training at the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy and assignments in the diplomatic service of the Holy See in Australia and Hong Kong. He then returned to Canada and took on various roles in Montreal, including in the field of canon law and as Vice President of the diocesan organisation for spiritual vocations. From 2015 to 2021, he was Secretary General of the Canadian Bishops' Conference. Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop in Montreal in 2022, and the following year he gave him the archdiocese of Toronto.

With the cardinal title for the Lithuanian Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas (52), Pope Francis is showing that he has full confidence in the long-standing Vatican diplomat in the task of reorganising the situation at the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Formally, the Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko (79) is still in charge there, but Makrickas has taken over the leadership of the Pope's favourite church and put things in order. Francis appointed Makrickas as "extraordinary commissioner" for the troubled basilica in December 2021. He was also given the task of reorganising the lives of the clergy belonging to the basilica so that the church could once again become a centre of pastoral care in Rome. Before the Pope chose him for this task, he worked as a Vatican diplomat in Georgia, Sweden and the USA, among other places, and later moved to the General Department of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Bishop Mykola Bychok (44) from the Ukrainian Eparchy of St Peter and Paul in Melbourne is the youngest of the newly appointed cardinals and one of the Pope's youngest ever senators. The Redemptorist priest took up his role in Australia in July 2021. Even if Bychok is now a great exception as a Ukrainian in the College of Cardinals: The cleric has lived "down under" for years and is a naturalised citizen there. He can therefore be considered an Australian rather than a European.

Timothy Radcliffe at the Mediterranean Theologians' Meeting
Bild: ©MTS/fratellanza.net

Timothy Radcliffe was Master General of the Dominican Order.

The Dominican priest Timothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe (79) was already able to show his theological stature - and his English humour - at the retreat days of the current Synod on Synodality. The London-born theologian, Master General of the Dominicans from 1992 to 2001, is the only Briton to have held this office in the over 800-year history of his order. In 2000, Radcliffe was considered a candidate to succeed Cardinal Basil Hume as Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. In 2003, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford University. At the days of reflection of the Synod on Synodality, he spoke of the post-Western age and tensions in the Church. At the same time, the unconventional church thinker prepared the participants for great things: "We are not here to eat a meagre meal, but to savour the haute cuisine of the Kingdom of God."

Father Fabio Baggio (59) is the General Director of the new ecological study centre "Laudato Si" and has been entrusted with one of the most important projects of the environmentally-minded Pope. Large parts of the 55-hectare estate in Castelgandolfo are currently being converted into a centre for ecological education and agriculture at the Pope's request. Young people, people with disabilities, migrants and socially disadvantaged people are given work and training in the gardens of the former papal residence. Baggio, a member of the Scalabrinian Order and undersecretary in the Vatican's development dicastery since 2022, is in charge of the centre.

The Indian priest George Jacob Koovakad (51) has already worked in Algeria, South Korea, Iran and Costa Rica since joining the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2006. In 2021, the Pope appointed him as his travel marshal. "He's always smiling," says Francis about the Indian, who recently demonstrated his organisational skills during the Pope's trip to Luxembourg and Belgium. The Pope has even spoken to Koovakad's grandmother on the phone: in September 2023, the elderly lady wanted to speak to her grandson via video call - and suddenly had Francis on the screen. He congratulated her on her grandson's good education

by Sabine Kleyboldt, Ludwig Ring-Eifel und Christoph Schmidt (KNA)