Pope Francis appoints 20 new Cardinals

His Holiness, Pope Francis, announced the appointment of twenty new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, with an apparent effort to diversify the top leadership in the Church. The cardinals were selected from 18 countries. Making the announcement in his Sunday Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the appointment demonstrates how the Church of Rome and the particular churches across the world are connected by “indissoluble links.”

Seven of the new cardinals were selected from Europe, five from Latin America, three from Asia, three from Africa and two from Oceania. In addition, Myanmar, Cabo Verde, and Tonga had a cardinal selected from amongst them for the first time. All the cardinals will have a meeting in mid-February with the Pontiff at the Vatican where they will “reflect on the orientations and proposals for the reform of the Roman Curia.”

February 14 has been fixed for the formal ceremony where the new cardinals will be elevation at the Vatican.
Five of the new appointees are above the age of 80 and so will be ineligible to vote for Francis' successor.

The new cardinals are:
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
Archbishiop Manuel José Macario do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon (Portugal)
Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M., of Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington (New Zealand)
Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo (Italy)
Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Nhon of Hà Nôi (Viêt Nam)
Archbishop Alberto Suàrez Inda of Morelia (Mexico)
Archbishop Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B., of Yangon (Myanmar)
Archbishop Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok (Thailand)
Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento (Italy)
Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B., of Montevideo (Uruguay)
Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez of Vallodolid (Spain)
Bishop José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R., of David (Panamá)
Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado, of Santiago de Cabo Verde (Archipelago of Cape Verde)
Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi of Tonga (Island of Tonga)

Honorary Cardinals over the age of 80 and ineligible to vote in papal elections:

José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales, Colombia
Archbishop Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus
Archbishop Karl-Joseph Rauber, Apostolic Nuncio
Luis Héctor Villaba, Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán, Argentina
Júlio Duarte Langa, Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai, Mozambique