New cardinals signal Catholicism’s centre shifting to Global South

Several of the new cardinal-designates announced by Pope Francis have applauded the range of countries represented by those getting a red hat, saying the appointments signal a shift in the centre of Catholicism from the West to the Global South.

Cardinal-designate Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Korhogo, Ivory Coast, speaking to journalists during an 8 October press briefing, said: “We can be happy about this openness in the spirit of our Pope who decided to have cardinals from all corners of the world.

“We know that a cardinal is a person [that] supports the Pope for the universal Church. So, the fact of appointing cardinals from different countries and different continents is really a sign that the Pope is opening the Church up, and the Church today needs to listen.”

Bessi Dogbo was one of 21 new cardinals announced by Pope Francis during his Sunday Angelus on 6 October, once again illustrating his desire to diversity and internationalise the College of Cardinals, and to reward close aides and allies.

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Bessi Dogbo spoke alongside two other new cardinals-to-be, Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo and Archbishop Jaime Spengler of Porto Alegre, Brazil, who is also President of the Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM).

Each of the prelates are participating in the Pope’s 2-27 October Synod of Bishops on Synodality, and they will get their red hats in a consistory to be held 8 December, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Bessi Dogbo emphasised that listening is essential for the Church and has been a keyword of the ongoing synod.

“So, it’s good to have cardinals who come from all the regions of the world who can express themselves, and the Pope can listen to their voices, and they will listen to the Pope,” he said.

Kikuchi highlighted that Pope Francis recently returned from a 12-day odyssey to Southeast Asia and has often travelled to that part of the world throughout his 11-year papacy.

“That is showing, for me, that the Holy Father is [demonstrating] the importance of Asia,” he said, noting that in addition to himself, two other new cardinals come from Asia, one from Indonesia and one from the Philippines.

“I’m not saying that Asia itself is important, but the centre of the Church is shifting from Europe to other areas, the Global South. The centre of the church is shifting from Europe…that is the indication of this appointment,” he said.

There have been concerns raised among some observers that the increased diversity of the College of Cardinals could become a challenge in the next conclave to choose and decide upon a new pope, as many of the prelates have never met. Kikuchi noted that as president of the global Caritas charitable organisation he has met and knows many of the other cardinals personally.

As a participant in last year’s synod gathering as well as this year’s synod discussion, Bessi Dogbo said he has gotten to know many of the other participants and he believes the most important thing for delegates to do is to see “the face of Christ” in every person they meet.

Bessi Dogbo voiced his belief that the global representation among the Church’s most exclusive club is a sign of a Church that listens “to everybody, regardless of their own situations, regardless of their intellectual level, regardless of their personal skills”.

He added: “What is important is that we are all baptised in Christ and on the face of every Christian we must be able to recognise Christ. So, this appointment helps us precisely to live this, to experience this, a Church in which everyone is equal in dignity.”

Spengler, in his remarks, and like Bessi Dogbo and Kikuchi, voiced his belief that when members of the Catholic Church profess themselves as Catholic, “we are not just making reference to a religious belief”.

“We want to point at an openness, generosity, that is quite unique. That generosity and magnanimity that is proper to God, who can have a dialogue with all cultures, differences, peoples, languages, and [with] this richness,” he said.

That, Spengler said, is the purpose of “this diversity of our College”, and it is also “the expression of this typical way of being Catholics”.

He added: “It’s really beautiful that the Holy Father has this concern [in relation to] the most diverse cultures,” noting that his own diocese alone has four million people, whereas Cardinal Giorgio Marengo of Mongolia has just 1,500 faithful in the entire country.

But numbers are “not a criterium”, he emphasised, rather “the criterium is another…today when we look at the makeup of the College and we see this extraordinary universality, this is very good”.

He continued: “We are so different one from the other, but there is something unites us, and that is precisely here [in] the beauty greatness and dignity of the College itself lies in this diversity.”

Asked what their respective local Churches can share with the rest of the world, Kikuchi noted that Asia has a lot of vocations and is now sending missionaries to the West.

“When the Holy Father is talking about peripheries, the peripheries are moving,” Kikuchi said, explaining that for the Church the global peripheries are no longer Africa or Asia, rather “the peripheries are moving, maybe to Europe”.

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Bassi Dogbo said the African Church, in particular, is also sending lot of missionaries abroad, and he also spoke of the “joy” within the African Church, which he said “can be shared with the whole world”.

Spengler paid homage to the multicultural makeup of Brazil and praised the “courage” and dedication of immigrants who endured hardship to start a new life, calling the Brazilian church “a Pentecost”, made up of men and women from different places, speaking different languages, but who come together.

He also touched on the question of a longstanding proposal, renewed during the 2019 Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, to ordain so-called viri probati, or tested married men, to the priesthood as a potential solution to the priest shortage in the Amazon region.

In his response, Spengler said the question touched on a “very delicate” issue that is a matter of discipline in the Church, not theology.

The priest shortage in the Amazon is “a reality that truly needs deepening,” he said.

“I don’t know if opening the possibility of having married men be priests is the best solution or not, but I believe we do need openness and honesty to address this issue.”

Spengler said there is no “recipe that fits all”, and noted that in his diocese, there is a renewed investment in the permanent diaconate.

“Maybe in a future that’s not so distant, maybe these men could be ordained priests for a specific community,” he said, stressing the need to be open.

“I don’t have a predetermined answer, but we must face this issue with courage and with elements from the bible,” as well as other resources, he said, stressing the need to “pay attention to the signs of the times”.

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Photo: A cardinal holds his red berretta. (Credit: Vatican Media, via Crux.)

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