Among the new cardinals is the former bishop of the Spokane diocese in the State of Washington in the USA. Blase J. Cupich also serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
A consistory was held a day ahead of the closing of the holy doors in the Year of Mercy at which the Catholic pontiff Francis appointed seventeen new cardinals, coming from five continents. He has announced the move on Angelus on the 9th of October.
The new cardinals come from eleven nations, bearing witness to the universal nature of the Catholic church, proclaiming and bearing witness to the good news of God’s mercy in every corner of the earth. The fact that they were declared cardinals in the Roman diocese testifies to the unbreakable links between Peter’s heir and the local Roman Catholic churches around the world.
Among the new cardinals is the former bishop of the Spokane diocese in the State of Washington in the United States of America. Blase J. Cupich also serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Bishop Blaise Cupich (Blaž Ćupić) is of Croatian extraction – his grandfather and grandmother were born in Croatia, the grandfather in Donji Andrijevci. He visited Croatia on three occasions as a bishop, once before that as a student, while his father was still alive and during his studies in Rome, when he visited the birthplace of his ancestors and living relatives.
The new cardinals are: Mario Zenari, the apostolic nuncio in Syria; Diedonné Nzapalainga, C.S.Sp., archbishop of Bangui (Central African Republic); Carlos Osoro Sierra, archbishop of Madrid (Spain); Sérgio da Rocha, archbishop Brasilia (Brazil), Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago (USA); Patrick D’Rozario, C.S.C., archbishop of Dhaka (Bangladesh); Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, archbishop of Mérida (Venezuela); Jozef De Kesel, archbishop of Malines-Bruxelles (Belgium); Maurice Piat, archbishop of Port-Louis (Mauritius); Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life (USA); Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of Tlalnepantla (Mexico); John Ribat, M.S.C., archbishop of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea); Joseph William Tobin, C.SS.R., archbishop of Indianapolis (USA); Anthony Soter Fernandez, emeritus archbishop of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Renato Corti, emeritus archbishop of Novara (Italy); Sebastian Koto Khoarai, O.M.I, emeritus bishop of Mohale’s Hoek (Lesotho) and Ernest Simoni, priest of the archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult (Albania).
(laudato.hr)