Pope names Archbishop Advincula as new cardinal

Pope Francis has appointed 13 new cardinals including Filipino Archbishop Jose Advincula. The pope made the announcement during his Sunday Angelus in the Vatican and said the new cardinals would be elevated at a consistory on Nov. 28.

Advincula becomes the ninth Filipino cardinal, following cardinals Orlando Quevedo, Luis Antonio Tagle, Gaudencio Rosales, Jose Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Jaime Sin, Julio Rosales and Rufino Santos.

At 68, he is among the nine new cardinals eligible to vote in a conclave. The four others are over 80s.

He will also be the fourth living Filipino cardinals, alongside with Rosales, Quevedo and Tagle, who is the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Both Rosales and Quevedo are over 80 and are no longer eligible to take part in a conclave when the time comes to elect a new pope.

The cardinal-elect has been serving as archbishop of Capiz since January 2012.

Born in Dumalag, Capiz, he was ordained priest for the Capiz archdiocese in 1976.

In 2001, he was appointed bishop of San Carlos, a post he served for 10 years until he was transferred to Capiz as its fourth archbishop.

In the Philippine bishops’ conference, Advincula is currently the vice-chairman of the Committee on International Eucharistic Congress and the Office on Women.

Other cardinals-designate include Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Maltese Bishop Mario Grech, who became secretary general of the Synod of Bishops in September, and the Italian Bishop Marcello Semeraro, who was named prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints earlier this month.

Also receiving the red hat is the Italian Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has served as the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980. Aged 86, he will not be eligible to vote in a future conclave.

Others appointed to the College of Cardinals include Archbishop Celestino Aós Braco of Santiago, Chile; Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda; Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz, in the Philippines; and Bishop Cornelius Sim, Vicar Apostolic of Brunei.

Also elevated to the rank of cardinal are Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice, former Rome auxiliary bishop and current Archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino, Italy; and Fra Mauro Gambetti, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi.

Alongside Cantalamessa, the pope named three others who will receive the red hat but be unable to vote in conclaves: Emeritus Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Permanent Observer Emeritus to the United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva; and Enrico Feroci, parish priest of Santa Maria del Divino Amore at Castel di Leva, Rome. WITH REPORTS FROM CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY