VATICAN CITY (CNS) ─ Almost half of the 21 cardinals-to-be Pope Francis recently announced were already in Rome attending the Synod of Bishops on synodality, but that didn't necessarily mean they all heard the news when it happened.
"I was in my bedroom reading a book" when a flurry of WhatsApp notifications started pinging on his phone, Cardinal-designate Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, Brazil, said through an interpreter at a Vatican press briefing Oct. 8.
He could not understand why people were sending best wishes and congratulations all at once on Oct. 6 because "the date was not a special day for me," he said. Inquiring further with the well-wishers, one person told him, "The pope mentioned you at the Angelus," which is when the pope announced he would create 21 new cardinals Dec. 8. The Vatican later announced the cardinals would be created at a consistory Dec. 7 and would concelebrate Mass with Pope Francis Dec. 8.
Nine of the cardinals-designate were in Rome, enjoying their first free Sunday of the Oct. 2-27 synod, and three of them were the main speakers at the daily press briefing Oct. 8, sharing some of their thoughts about the new appointments.
Cardinal-designate Spengler, 64, who is attending the synod as president of Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, or CELAM, said there are already six Brazilian cardinals each leading an archdiocese, and two more serve or have served the Roman Curia, "so we are in a position to serve and do what we are required to do in the best possible way."
The 21 cardinals-designate come from 18 nations and Cardinal-designate Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, told reporters through an interpreter that "we can be happy about this openness in the spirit of our pope who decided to have cardinals from all corners of the world."
Pope Francis is opening the church up and the church today needs to listen, he said. "All the parts and the regions of the world have something to say."
"This is the catholicity of the church," the 63-year-old cardinal-designate said, when all the voices of the people of God can speak and be heard.
Cardinal-designate Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, who will soon be 66, told reporters the pope has been showing the importance of Asia by visiting several countries there and naming many cardinals from the continent.
"The center of the mission of the church is shifting from Europe to other areas of the global south … that is the indication of these appointments," he said. Five come from Latin America, five from Asia and two from Africa while eight of the cardinals come from Europe and just one from North America.
Being a cardinal is not about the size of one's diocese or number of faithful, he said. About 1,500 Catholics live in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, which is led by Cardinal Giorgio Marengo and about 4 million Catholics live in Cardinal-designate Spengler's Archdiocese of Porto Alegre.
"When we say Catholic we are not just making reference to a religious belief," Cardinal-designate Spengler said. "We want to point to an openness, generosity, which is quite unique, that generosity and magnanimity which is proper to God who can have a dialogue with all cultures, differences, peoples, languages."
And, he said, the richness and diversity of the College of Cardinals is an expression of this unique way of being Catholic, he said.
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