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Pope Francis announced the appointment of 21 new cardinals on Sunday, further increasing the size of the College of Cardinals and solidifying his influence on the group responsible for selecting the next pope. This new cohort includes figures from around the world, reflecting the global reach of the Catholic Church.
Among the newly appointed is 99-year-old Monsignor Angelo Acerbi, the oldest new cardinal and a retired Vatican diplomat who was once held hostage in Colombia. The youngest appointee is 44-year-old Bishop Mykola Bychok, the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Melbourne, Australia, a nomination that acknowledges the ongoing war in Ukraine.
These new cardinals will receive their red hats during a consistory on December 8, coinciding with the feast day that begins Rome’s Christmas season. This will mark Pope Francis’ 10th consistory and the largest intake of voting-age cardinals in his 11-year papacy. Notably, Acerbi is the only one over 80 and thus ineligible to vote for the next pope.
The College of Cardinals traditionally has a limit of 120 voting-age members, but this can be exceeded. As of late September, there were 122 electors, and the addition of this new group will bring that number to 142.
Pope Francis’ selections highlight his emphasis on diversifying the Church’s leadership. His appointments include key figures from Latin America, such as Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic of Argentina, Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Brazil, and others from Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. In contrast, North America received only one new cardinal, Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto.
The appointments also extend the Church’s reach globally, with new cardinals from Iran, Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines. Africa, another region where the Church is growing, received two new cardinals: Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Ivory Coast and Bishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Algeria.
Pope Francis continues to ensure representation from the Church’s “edges,” as noted by Christopher Bellitto, a church historian, who remarked that this inclusivity aligns with the pope’s ongoing vision for the global Church.
Significantly, the pope also appointed two Vatican officials who usually don’t hold cardinal rank: Rev. Fabio Baggio, in charge of the Vatican’s migrant section, and Rev. George Jacob Koovakad, responsible for organizing papal trips.
This latest round of appointments also acknowledges the importance of the ongoing synod at the Vatican, with the inclusion of British theologian Rev. Timothy Radcliffe, who serves as a spiritual advisor to the meeting.
With 92 of the current cardinal-electors under 80 appointed by Francis, the pope’s legacy and influence on the Church’s future leadership are firmly established.
