Pope Francis Names
21 New Cardinals

Pope Francis Celebrates Mass for New Cardinals Scott 1645 (2017) On October 6, Pope Francis announced that he will add 21 members to the College of Cardinals, a diverse group of Cardinal-designees who come from every continent. Twenty of the new Cardinals will be eligible to serve as cardinal-electors (one designee exceeds the maximum age of 80 to be an elector). The future cardinals come from every continent. The consistory to create the new cardinals will take place on Saturday, December 7, in Saint Peter’s Basilica. The consistory was originally scheduled for December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, but the schedule was altered to allow for the celebration of a Mass of Thanksgiving on the Solemnity, to include Pope Francis and the entire College of Cardinals together at the basilica. Among the new cardinals announced by Pope Francis, the oldest is the 99-year-old former nuncio, Italian Archbishop Angelo Acerbi. The youngest is the 44-year-old Ukrainian bishop who heads his church's eparchy in Melbourne, Australia, Bishop Mykola Bychok. The geographic distribution of the new cardinals is: Europe—8 Latin America—5 Asia—5 Africa—2 North America—1 The lone North American representative is Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto. There are no new cardinal-designates from the United States, which is now represented by only six cardinals, with the recent retirement of Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. Stamps and aerogrammes from Vatican City which specifically identify “cardinals” include the following: From the Council of Trent Issue (1946): Christoforo Cardinal Madruzzi (2 L, Scott 116) Reginald Cardinal Pole (2.50 L, Scott 117) Marcello Cardinal Cervini (3 L, Scott 118) Giovanni Maria Cardinal del Monte (4 L, Scott 119) Gasper Cardinal Contarini (12 L, Scott E10) From Top: Marcelo Cardinal Gonzalez Martin (Aerogramme, 2018) Nicholas Cardinal de Cues (Scott 396, 1964) John Cardinal Bessarione (Scott 529, 1972) Domenico Cardinal Bartolucci (Scott 1651, 2017) Eduardo Cardinal Francisco Pironio (Scott 1838, 2023) Ercole Cardinal Consalvi (Scott 1849, 2024) REFERENCES: Hannah Brockhaus, National Catholic Register, October 12, 2024, Vatican Shares Pope Francis’ Schedule for December Consistory to Create Cardinals Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service (from Angelusnews.com), October 6, 2024, Toronto, Tehran, Tokyo: Pope names 21 new cardinals from around the world Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search