Pope Francis Promotes 21 New Cardinals: Encourages Evangelization and Unity

Pope Francis presided over the ceremony for the promotion of cardinals. Of the 21 new cardinals, 18 have the right to vote and the other three do not have this right. The Pope encouraged them to “be evangelizers who receive the evangelization, not bureaucrats.”

(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis presided over a privy council in St. Peter’s Square on the morning of September 30 and promoted 21 new cardinals. Hong Kong Bishop Chow Shouren was also among them. Father Luis Pascual Dri of Argentina was not present. . 18 of the new cardinals have the right to vote, and 3 do not have this right because they are overage. About 12,000 believers attended the ceremony.

In his liturgical sermon, the Pope pointed out that the Church, which is one, holy and catholic, descended from the apostles, was born on the day of Pentecost. At that time, with the apostles were “those who lived in Jerusalem” The Jews, but also “Parthians, Mediates, Elamites” and many other peoples of various nations, heard the apostles speaking their words (cf. Acts 2:1-11).

This is what the new College of Cardinals will look like. These close collaborators of the Pope come from different nationalities and regions, presenting the “symphonic” and collegial spiritual side of the Church. The Pope explained that the “collegial nature of the Church” is like a symphony, to which different instruments provide their own contribution, “sometimes alone, sometimes in ensemble with other instruments, sometimes as a whole”.

However, “difference is necessary and indispensable” even if “each voice must be brought together into a common composition”. For this reason, “it is important to listen to each other: every musician must listen to others.” “The conductor of the orchestra renders this marvelous service to every symphony,” his task being “to listen more intently than anyone else” and “to help each individual and the entire orchestra to achieve their maximum creative fidelity, that is, to be faithful to the piece being performed.”

The Pope said that the image of the symphony orchestra teaches us to “become better and better a church of symphonies and companions”, and this is especially true for the College of Cardinals. “It is gratifying that we have the Holy Spirit as our guide: He is the guide within each of us and the guide we walk with”. He “creates diversity and unity” and He “is harmony himself.”

The Pope went on to point out that the grace of the Gospel received by peoples with different languages ​​must awaken in us a sense of surprise and gratitude. “We can become evangelizers only if we retain in our hearts the surprise and gratitude for our evangelization. We can even say that we have received the evangelization, because in fact it is a grace that is always timely and requires us to express it through memory and faith. Keep it updated. Be evangelizers who receive the evangelization, not be bureaucrats.”

The Pope invites everyone to look again at the events of Pentecost, not as something that happened in the past, but as “God’s ever-renewing act of creation”, a mystery that remains “relevant” for “the Church and each of her members” . This, the Pope said, is because the Church’s existence “does not depend on income, nor on archaeological heritage,” but “on the work of the Holy Spirit, living in the present moment of God.”

The Pope said to the new cardinals: “Today, in the light of the Word, we can grasp the fact that you, newly ordained cardinals, come from different parts of the world and that the same Holy Spirit enables your people to receive the result of the evangelization. bearing fruit and now renewing in you your vocation and mission in and for the Church.”

After the homily, the Pope promoted and read out the names of the new cardinals, inviting each of them to come before him to declare their faith in God and their loyalty to the Church. Each cardinal declares his vow: “I promise and swear, from this day forward and throughout my life, to be faithful to Christ and to his Gospel, and to be obedient to the Holy Roman Church, which has been handed down by the Apostles…”

Then the new cardinals bowed their heads in front of the pope one by one and accepted the cardinal hat. From this time on, the number of members of the College of Cardinals reached 242, of whom 137 had the right to elect the pope and the other 105 did not have this right.

Link URL:www.vaticannews.cn

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2023-09-30 14:05:38