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Ithis April 5, 2013 file photo made available by the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis, left, meets with Bishop Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the Vatican. Mueller is amongst the 19 new cardinals that Pope Francis announced Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014 during his Angelus prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. (AP/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO)
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Sunday named his first batch of cardinals, choosing 19 men from Asia, Africa, and elsewhere, including Haiti and Burkino Faso, to reflect his attention to the poor.
Francis made the announcement as he spoke from his studio window to a crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
Sixteen of the appointees are younger than 80, meaning they are eligible to elect the next pope, which is a cardinal’s most important task. The ceremony to formally install them as cardinals will be held Feb. 22 at the Vatican.
Some appointments were expected, including that of his new secretary of state, the Italian archbishop Pietro Parolin, and the German head of the Vatican’s watchdog office for doctrinal orthodoxy, Gerhard Ludwig Mueller.
But some names were surprising.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope’s selection of churchmen from Haiti and Burkino Faso, which are among the world’s poorest nations, reflects Francis’ attention to the destitute as a core part of the church’s mission.
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