Celebrating Holy Mass on the First Sunday of Advent together with 11 new Cardinals who received their red hats from him just hours earlier, Pope Francis invited the faithful to ask the Lord to awaken within them the desire to pray and the need to love.
The celebration came on the heels of a Consistory on Saturday afternoon during which the Pope created 13 new cardinals from different continents among them Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech.
Two of them, Cardinal Cornelius Sim from Brunei and Jose Advincula from the Philippines, were unable to attend in person because of covid-related travel restrictions.
At the heart of the Pope’s homily was the plea to God “to rouse us from the slumber of mediocrity” and “awaken us from the darkness of indifference.”
He drew inspiration from the liturgical readings of the day that, he noted, propose two key words for the Advent season: closeness and watchfulness: God’s closeness and our watchfulness.
Main Photo: Pope Francis (C) arrives to celebrate a holy Mass the day after a Consistory where he raised 13 new cardinals to the highest rank in the Catholic hierarchy, at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, 29 November 2020. EPA-EFE/GREGORIO BORGIA / POOL
Names of new cardinals installed by Pope Francis
– Archbishop Mario Grech, 63, Maltese, Vatican-based Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
– Archbishop Marcello Semeraro,73, Italian, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
– Archbishop Antoine Kambanda, Rwandan, 62, Archbishop of Kigali.
– Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, American, 72, Archbishop of Washington D.C.
– Archbishop Jose F. Advincula, 68, Filipino, Archbishop of Capiz.
– Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco, 75, Spanish, archbishop of Santiago, Chile.
– Archbishop Cornelius Sim, 69, Brunei, apostolic vicar of Brunei
– Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice, 56, Italian, archbishop of Siena, Italy.
– Father Mauro Gambetti, 55, Italian, custodian of the Franciscan convent of St. Francis in Assisi.
New cardinals over 80 years old and being honoured for their long service to the Church. They cannot enter a conclave.
– Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, 80, Mexican, bishop-emeritus of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico.
– Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, 80, Italian, archbishop, former ambassador, expert on immigration.
– Father Raniero Cantalamessa, 86, Italian, long-time preacher of the papal household
– Father Enrico Feroci, 80, Italian, pastor of the Divino Amore sanctuary in Rome.
Read more via Vatican News
