Pope Francis writes letter to new cardinals: You express the Church’s unity

Vatican City, Oct 12, 2024 / 09:00 am

Pope Francis expressed in a letter Saturday a desire that each of the 21 new cardinals to be added in December will be more of a “servant” than an “eminence.”

The pope’s brief letter, published Oct. 12, also welcomed the cardinals-designate to membership in the “Roman clergy,” which Francis called “an expression of the Church’s unity and of the bond that unites all the Churches with this Church of Rome.”

The pontiff announced after the Angelus Oct. 6 that he will add 21 men — 18 bishops and three priests — to the College of Cardinals in a consistory later this year.

The future cardinals come from countries on every continent and include archbishops from the countries of Iraq, Brazil, and Italy. They will be elevated to the College of Cardinals in a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7.

The pope will also offer a Mass of thanksgiving with the cardinals on Dec. 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Pope Francis in his letter encouraged the men to pray often, to love everyone, and to have mercy on the suffering.

“I thank you for your generosity and I assure you of my prayers that the title of ‘servant’ (deacon) will increasing eclipse that of ‘eminence,’” the pope told the future cardinals.

He also asked them to embody three attitudes the Argentinian poet Francisco Luis Bernárdez once used to describe St. John of the Cross: “eyes raised, hands joined, feet bare.”

“Eyes raised, because your service will require you to lengthen your gaze and broaden your heart, in order to see farther and to love more expansively and with greater fervor,” he said.

He quoted his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who said St. John of the Cross sat “at the school of his gaze,” which is “the pierced side of Christ.”

Another important attitude, Francis said, is hands joined in prayer for discernment, “because what the Church most needs — together with the preaching of the Gospel — is your prayer to be able to shepherd well the flock of Christ.”

He added that to have bare feet means to be close to the difficult realities faced by people around the world, including “the pain and suffering due to war, discrimination, persecution, hunger, and many forms of poverty.”

“These will demand from you great compassion and mercy,” the pope said.

One of the cardinals-designate, retired apostolic nuncio Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, is already over the age of 80 and no longer eligible to vote in a future conclave.

Cardinal-designate Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, will turn 80 on Aug. 22 next year. Radcliffe is one of two spiritual leaders for the Synod on Synodality taking place this month in Rome.

Among the 21 new cardinals, a total of nine are currently in Rome to participate in the second session of the synod Oct. 2–27.

The full list of new cardinals can be read here.