Pope urges compassion, elevates 13
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis added 13 new cardinals to the top of the Catholic hierarchy on Saturday, telling them they must show God's compassion to those who suffer to be faithful to their ministry.
Francis presided over the ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, elevating churchmen who share his pastoral concerns at a time when his pontificate is under fire from conservatives in the College of Cardinals.
Ten cardinals are under age 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave, increasing the likelihood that a future pope might end up looking much like the current one. These are churchmen who care for migrants, promote dialogue with Muslims and minister to the faithful in poor, far-flung missionary posts.
With Saturday's consistory, Francis will have named 52% of the voting-age cardinals. Many hail from churches in the developing world that never have had a “prince” representing them.
Francis was in many ways preaching to the choir when he urged the new cardinals to feel and share God's compassion, saying it was an “essential” part of understanding God's love for the weakest and most marginal.
“If I don't feel it, how can I share it, bear witness to it, bestow it on others?” he asked in his homily. “So many disloyal actions on the part of ecclesiastics are born of the lack of a sense of having been shown compassion, and by the habit of averting one's gaze, the habit of indifference.”