Pope Francis Names 21 New Cardinals, Including Two from Africa

Currently, the College of Cardinals comprises 208 Cardinals; of these, 117 Cardinals are below the age of 80 and are therefore Cardinal electors; the remaining 91 are non-electors. Of all the current Cardinal electors, 67 have been appointed by Pope Francis.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has created 101 cardinals from 58 countries at seven Consistories.

When Pope Francis holds the Consistory and creates the 21 new Cardinals, the College of Cardinals will expand to 229 Cardinals.

The last Consistory to create new cardinals took place on 28 November 2020. Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals including Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda’s Kigali Archdiocese who became the first-ever Cardinal in the landlocked nation in the Great Rift Valley located at the convergence between African Great Lakes region and East Africa.

Immediately following the 2020 consistory, Pope Francis had appointed 73 of the members of the College of Cardinals eligible to vote a future conclave. Pope Benedict XVI, the immediate predecessor of Pope Francis, had named 39 of the Cardinal electors. Earlier, John Paul II had appointed 16 Cardinal electors.

More in Africa

Catholic Bishop in Mauritius Calls for Responsible Participation of Youths in General Elections

Read the article

This is the full list of the newly named Cardinals:

• Bishop Peter Ebere Okpaleke, Ekwulobia Diocese (Nigeria).
• Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Wa Diocese (Ghana).
• Archbishop Arthur Roche, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (United Kingdom).
• Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy (South Korea).
• Archbishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga, President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State (Spain).
• Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline, Marseille Archdiocese (France).
• Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, of Manaus (Brazil).
• Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião of Rosário Ferrão, of Goa e Damão (India).
• Bishop Robert Walter McElroy, of San Diego (United States)
• Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva, of Dili (East Timor).
• Bishop Oscar Cantoni, of Como (Italy).
• Archbishop Anthony Poola, of Hyderabad (India).
• Archbishop Paulo Cezar Costa, of Brasília (Brazil).
• Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye, of Singapore (Singapore).
• Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores, of Asunción (Paraguay).
• Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, Prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia).

Five are over the age of 80:

• Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena (Colombia).
• Archbishop Lucas Van Looy sdb, Archbishop Emeritus of Ghent (Belgium).
• Archbishop Arrigo Miglio, Archbishop Emeritus of Cagliari (Italy).
• Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ (Italy).

Monsignor Fortunato Frezza (Italy).