Pope Francis Names 17 New Cardinals

The Head of the Catholic church, Pope Francis has named 17 new cardinals, the most prestigious title next to the papacy.

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The new cardinals range across five continents.

Three of them are from the US, while others come from areas of the world where the Catholic Church seeks to boost its ministry.

Dressed in red robes, the “princes of the Church” knelt before the pontiff to pledge their allegiance in a solemn ceremony known as a consistory.

Thirteen of them are under 80 and therefore eligible to take part in the next secret conclave to elect or become the head of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. They are known as cardinal electors.
The pope gave each man a three-cornered red hat, and also a gold ring of their high office.
The new cardinals are:

Mario Zenari, Italy

Dieudonne Nzapalainga, Central African Republic

Carlos Osoro Sierra, Spain

Sergio da Rocha, Brazil

Blase J Cupich, USA

Patrick D’Rozario, Bangladesh

Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo, Venezuela

Jozef De Kesel, Belgium

Maurice Piat, Mauritius

Kevin Joseph Farrell, USA

Carlos Aguiar Retes, Mexico

John Ribat, Papua New Guinea

Joseph William Tobin, USA

Anthony Soter Fernandez, Malaysia

Renato Corti, Italy

Sebastian Koto Khoarai, Lesotho

Ernest Simoni, Albania