Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 20, 2022 / 17:46 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis’ picks for the College of Cardinals have made the body “less European,” giving a greater voice to developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, a new analysis shows.
The Pew Research Center report focused on the 83 cardinals appointed by the Argentinian pope now under the age of 80 who are eligible to vote in a papal conclave.
Those appointees, 16 of whom won’t be installed until Aug. 27, currently make up a majority (63%) of the 132 voting-age cardinals. Francis’ predecessors, Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, appointed the remaining cardinals.
Europeans account for the plurality of Francis’ voting-age appointees — 28, or 34% of the total, the most of any region. But once the latest batch of appointees is installed, Europe will have seen its share shrink to 40%, down from 52% in 2013 when Francis was elected.
Meanwhile, other parts of the world have gained ground, led by the Asia-Pacific region, whose overall representation of voting-age cardinals has risen from 9% in 2013 to 17% in 2022, the analysis shows.
Sub-Saharan Africa is on the upswing, as well, rising from 9% to 12%. Latin America and the Caribbean has had a more modest gain, rising from 16% to 18%.
“Of the 83 newly appointed or currently eligible voting cardinals Francis has named so far during his papacy, 34% are from Europe, 22% from the Asia-Pacific region, 20% from Latin America and the Caribbean, 13% from sub-Saharan Africa, 8% from North America and 2% from the Middle East-North Africa region,” Pew reported.
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And one hope is that the non-European cardinals will see clearly through the central European conflation of Francis’ decentralization (of the college) together with enabling moral ambiguity (toward the homosexual lifestyle, etc.)—and will vote independently and courageously at the next conclave. As red-hat Successors of the Apostles and not as green recruits for the Cardinal Kasper et al end game.
Indispensable is discerning study of the collection of well-researched, accurate and balanced profiles for nineteen likely papabili, in Edward Pentin (editor), “The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates,” Sophia Institute Press, 2020.
Though lacking infrastructure, Church is a loud and clear voice in the developing world.