Pope tells new cardinals to serve people, tackle sins

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Cardinals are not called to be
“princes” of the church, but to serve the people of God and tackle
the sins of the world, Pope Francis told five new cardinals.

Jesus “calls you to serve like him and with him, to
serve the father and your brothers and sisters,” the pope said as he
created five new cardinals from five nations June 28.

The new cardinals created during the prayer service in
St. Peter’s Basilica were: Cardinals Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, 73; Juan Jose
Omella of Barcelona, Spain, 71; Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, 67;
Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Pakse, Laos, 73; and
Gregorio Rosa Chavez, 74, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.

After reciting the Creed and taking an oath of fidelity
to Pope Francis and his successors, each cardinal — in his new red robes —
went up to Pope Francis and knelt before him. The pope gave them each a
cardinal’s ring, a red skullcap and a red three-cornered red hat. The crimson
hue the cardinals wear is a reminder that they must be courageous and faithful
to Christ, his church and the pope to the point of shedding blood, if
necessary.

They also received a scroll attesting to their
appointment as cardinals and containing the name of their “titular
church” in Rome. The assignment of a church is a sign they now are members
of the clergy of the pope’s diocese.

After the consistory, Pope Francis and the new cardinals visited retired Pope Benedict XVI in the Mater Ecclesiae
Monastery, his residence in the Vatican gardens.

The Gospel reading at the consistory was St. Mark’s
account of James’ and John’s pride and ambition to have a position of power and
be honored, and how the other disciples reacted with angry jealousy (Mk
10:32-45).

Jesus corrects his disciples, explaining that pagan
leaders are the ones who lord their authority over their people, and “it
shall not be so among you.” The pope said the cardinals, as leaders like
Christ, are there to be slaves and serve others.

The Gospel reading, he said, shows how Jesus asked his
disciples to “look at reality, not let yourselves be distracted by other
interests or prospects.”

The reality is always the cross, he said, and the sins
the cardinals must face today include: “the innocent who suffer and die as
victims of war and terrorism; the forms of enslavement that continue to violate
human dignity even in the age of human rights; the refugee camps, which at
times seem more like a hell than a purgatory; the systematic discarding of all
that is no longer useful, people included.”

Jesus “has not called you to become ‘princes’ of the
church, to ‘sit at his right or at his left,'” the pope told the new
cardinals. “He calls you to serve like him and with him.”

The evening before he was to enter the College of
Cardinals, Cardinal Arborelius had just picked up his new red vestments, but
had not had a chance to try them on. “I hope they will fit,” he said.

The Swedish cardinal told Catholic News Service that
about 450 people from Sweden had planned to travel to Rome for the consistory,
including the leaders of the Lutheran, Syrian Orthodox and Baptist churches in
Sweden. The Catholic contingent included a large group of Chaldean Catholics
who emigrated from Iraq to Sweden. But, he said, there also was a big group of
Salvadorans living in Sweden who were traveling to Rome to celebrate the red
hat of Cardinal Rosa Chavez.

The Salvadoran auxiliary bishop was a friend of and
mentored by Blessed Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980. The new
cardinal’s loyalty to the memory of the Blessed Romero and to the memory of his
country’s sufferings is reflected in his coat of arms, which features a sprig
of rosemary because in Spanish “Romero” also means rosemary, a palm
frond as a symbol of the Salvadoran church’s persecution and martyrdom, and a
hand grabbing another hand, a symbol of the church’s option for the poor.

When Cardinal Omella was asked how his life
would change as a cardinal, he told reporters, “I think the tree is
already fully grown. I will hardly change, I will be the same person.”

“I don’t see the cardinalate as major upgrade, of
importance or climbing up to some honorable position,” he said. “What
is asked of me now is a greater service to the church, but in the way taught by
Pope Francis, who goes to wash the feet of prisoners.”

Serving the people of God and society, Spain’s new
cardinal said, “demands dying to one’s self; it is difficult to be
available every day, but it must be done with generosity.”

Cardinal Ling experienced persecution first hand. After
Laos became a communist nation, he set off — without government permission —
to preach the Gospel in small villages and in prisons, according to his Vatican
biography. He was arrested in 1984 and accused of “making propaganda for
Jesus.”

The new cardinal was imprisoned for three years,
“with chains on my arms and my legs,” he said.

But being a prisoner was “an apostolate,” he
said. “My presence (in prison) was necessary for my conversion and
purification and also for that of others.”

At the end of the consistory, the College of Cardinals
had 225 members, 121 of whom are under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a
conclave to elect a pope.

– – –

Contributing to this story were Cindy Wooden and Junno
Arocho Esteves in Rome, and Rhina Guidos in Washington.

– – –

Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

Original Article