CAPIZ Archbishop Jose Advincula was among 13 cardinals appointed by Pope Francis, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news agency said Sunday, October 25, 2020.
Advincula, 68, is the ninth Filipino to be made a cardinal, following cardinals Orlando Quevedo, Luis Antonio Tagle, Jose Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Jaime Sin, Julio Rosales and Rufino Santos.
He is set to become the second active Filipino cardinal eligible to participate in a papal conclave after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.
The pope also appointed Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, the first Black U.S. prelate to earn the coveted red hat.
Wilton, 73, was picked by Francis to lead the prestigious diocese in the U.S. capital last year. The prelate has his pulse on factions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has both strong conservative and liberal veins since he served three times as the head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops.
The pope announced the new cardinals during his Sunday Angelus in the Vatican. He said the new cardinals would be elevated at a concistory on November 28, 2020.
Advincula has been serving as archbishop of Capiz since January 2012.
He was born on March 30, 1952 in Dumalag, Capiz. He was ordained priest for the Capiz archdiocese on April 14, 1976.
He was appointed on July 25, 2001 as bishop of San Carlos, a post he served for 10 years until he was transferred to Capiz as its fourth archbishop on November 9, 2011.
Other new cardinals include an Italian who is the long-time papal preacher at the Vatican, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan friar; the Kigali, Rwanda, Archbishop Antoine Kambanda; and the Santiago, Chile, Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco.
Another Franciscan who was tapped is Friar Mauro Gambetti, in charge of the Sacred Convent in Assisi.
The pope, when elected in 2013, chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake saint. Earlier this month, the pontiff journeyed to that hill town in Umbria to sign an encyclical, or important church teaching document, about brotherhood.
In a reflection of the pope's stress on helping those in need, Francis also named the former director of the Rome Catholic charity, Caritas, the Rev. Enrico Feroci, to be a cardinal.
Others named cardinals include a Maltese prelate, Monsignor Mario Grech; Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, an Italian serving as prefect of the Vatican office which runs the saint-making process; Bishop Cornelius Sim, a Brunei native who serves as apostolic vicar of Brunei; the Italian archbishop of Siena and nearby towns in Tuscany, Augusto Lojudice; the retired bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel; and an Italian former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi.
Nine of the new cardinals are younger than 80, and thus eligible to elect the next pontiff in a secret conclave. Some cardinals head powerful Vatican offices, and pontiffs frequently turn to cardinals for advice.
No details were immediately given by the Vatican about the consistory, as the formal ceremony to make the churchmen cardinals is known, especially in view of travel restrictions involving many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As he has in other groups of cardinals he tapped in his papacy, Francis in this selection reflected the global nature of the Catholic Church and his flock of 1.2 billion Catholics.
Churchmen over 80 who are named cardinals are chosen to honor their life of service to the church. Those in this batch too old to vote in a conclave are Cantalamessa, Tomasi, Feroci and Arizmendi Esquivel. (HDT/SunStar Philippines/AP)