Who are the 21 new cardinals chosen by Pope Francis?

According to a rule established by Paul VI, the number of cardinal electors in case of a conclave should not exceed 120. However, what was a maximum for his predecessors seems to have become a minimum for Pope Francis, who announced the nomination of 21 new cardinals during his Sunday Angelus address October 6. They will be created during a consistory on December 8. On that date, barring any deaths, the College of Cardinals will consist of 140 electors in the event of a conclave.

An important aspect of this is that 11 of the 21 future cardinals are members of religious orders: four Franciscans, two Dominicans, two Divine Word Missionaries, one Redemptorist, one Scalabrinian, and one Vincentian.

The major geographical balances have not shifted significantly. But the Argentine pope, having returned in mid-September from the longest trip of his pontificate to Southeast Asia and Oceania, seemed particularly keen to strengthen the Asian presence (Indonesia, Japan, Philippines...) within the highest hierarchy of the church. On December 8, nearly one in five cardinal electors will come from this continent.

The Asians (26) remain the third-largest group after Europeans (55) and Americans (39). The College of Cardinals also includes 18 African cardinals and four from Oceania.

Beyond the numbers, this tenth consistory of the pontificate highlights the pope's attention to specific profiles, often operating in complex geopolitical and religious contexts, such as Belgian Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu (Tehran) or French Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco (Algiers). Here’s a closer look at 21 profiles shaping the Catholic future.

► Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco of Algiers

Nothing seemed to predestine Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, 62, of Algiers, who in his first career worked as a business lawyer, to become a cardinal. His calling came in his early thirties after attending an ordination Mass. He joined the Dominican order in 1996 and was ordained a priest in 2001.

In 2002, he was invited to settle in Tlemcen to reestablish a Dominican presence six years after the assassination of Bishop Pierre Claverie of Oran. Appointed Bishop of Oran in 2012 by Benedict XVI, he chose the motto "I want to live and inspire the will to live." In 2015, he published a plea for remarried divorcees, reflecting his open pastoral approach.

His work in Algeria is notably marked by organizing the beatification of the 19 Algerian martyrs in 2018. Naturalized Algerian in 2023, Archbishop Vesco embodies interreligious dialogue in a predominantly Muslim country. His vision of fraternity as a daily necessity defines his ministry. “Fraternity is not decreed; it is lived,” he declared in our columns in 2022, with one of the many insightful expressions that characterize his speeches.

► Archbishop Dominique Mathieu, Shepherd of a silent church in Iran

The symbolism of his nomination is particularly strong. With a jovial face and long white beard, the Belgian Franciscan Dominique Mathieu, 61, becomes the third cardinal in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Appointed three years ago as archbishop of the only Latin-rite Catholic diocese in Iran, he leads a tiny minority in this country of nearly 82 million, where the vast majority are Shia Muslims: 2,000 mostly foreign faithful scattered across five parishes—three in Tehran, one in Isfahan, and another in Tabriz.

When he was appointed to Tehran in 2021, the country had been without a bishop since 2015. While the Iranian Constitution theoretically guarantees freedom of worship and officially recognizes Christianity as a minority religion, persecution of certain minorities still occurs today, and the Latin Catholic Church must remain extremely discreet. Because of the danger of being accused of proselytism, the use of Farsi—the Persian language—is prohibited in Catholic churches. Similarly, access to Latin Catholic churches and chapels is forbidden to non-Christians and converts from Islam.

► Father Timothy Radcliffe, the Dominican who challenges the church

It is no coincidence that the pope chose Father Timothy Radcliffe to preach the spiritual retreat for the first session of the Synod of Bishops on synodality in October 2023. Born in London in 1945, this 79-year-old Briton—who will only be an elector for a few months—is known for his sharp humor and outspoken nature, often challenging ecclesial habits.

Entering the Dominican order in 1965, the Oxford intellectual was Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. Returning as a simple member of the Dominican community in Oxford, he spends much of his time teaching and preaching in various countries. An advocate of a church in dialogue with society, he does not shy away from addressing sensitive issues, such as the inclusion of remarried divorcees or LGBT people or the role of homosexuals in the priesthood, encouraging open discussion on these topics.

However, he remains faithful to Catholic doctrine, which he explains with great subtlety. His nomination as cardinal acknowledges a career dedicated to serving a church he hopes will “go out of itself” to reach the peripheries, as preached by Pope Francis.

► Archbishop Angelo Acerbi, a veteran of Vatican diplomacy

At 99, Archbishop Angelo Acerbi becomes one of the oldest cardinals created by Pope Francis. This Italian was ordained a priest in 1948 and joined the Vatican diplomatic corps in 1954. His career took him from post-Francoist tensions in Spain to the challenges of the church in post-communist Eastern Europe.

It was in Colombia that he faced his most significant trial. In 1980, while serving as the apostolic nuncio in Bogotá, he was held hostage for two months by guerrillas, an experience that solidified his reputation as a diplomat.

A quiet architect of relations between the Vatican and Eastern Bloc countries, he became the first nuncio in Hungary after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. Retired since 2001, Archbishop Acerbi remained a respected figure in the Vatican. His nomination as a cardinal, rare for a nonagenarian—he will not be an elector in the next conclave—emphasized the value Pope Francis places on diplomatic experience in a rapidly changing world.

► Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas, A familiar face in the Roman Curia

He is one of the three future cardinals from the Curia. Born in Biržai, Lithuania, the 51-year-old archbishop was appointed in 2021 as the extraordinary commissioner for the Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major, responsible for its economic management. Previously, he had served as a Vatican diplomat.

► Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima

Close to Gustavo Gutierrez Merino, the father of liberation theology, the Peruvian theologian Archbishop Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio, 74, was appointed to lead the Archdiocese of Lima (Peru) on January 25, 2019, by Pope Francis. He replaced Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, known for his conservative stance and suspicion of liberation theology. His nomination reflects Pope Francis’ preferential option for the poor, a hallmark of the pontiff’s agenda, reaffirmed by choosing him as a cardinal.

► Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic, Former auxiliary bishop of Cardinal Bergoglio

Born on June 11, 1952, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic joined the Lazarists in 1970. As the provincial superior of his congregation from 2003 to 2009, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in 2010, where the archbishop was then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. After Bergoglio became pope, he named Bokalic Iglic as the bishop of Santiago del Estero in December 2013, elevating the diocese to a primatial archdiocese on July 22, 2023.

► Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, a peacemaker in Ecuador

Born on October 11, 1955, in Azogues, 400 kilometers south of Ecuador’s capital Quito, Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, almost 69 years old, donned the Franciscan habit in 1975 before being ordained a priest in 1983. Serving as the Archbishop of Guayaquil since 2015, this bishop, known for his close connection to the grassroots, has held numerous high-ranking positions within the Franciscan order, including in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Named Archbishop of Cuenca by Benedict XVI in 2009, he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life in 2014. In Ecuador, a country that is 75% Catholic, he is particularly known for his efforts to promote dialogue for peace, especially following anti-government protests triggered by austerity measures. Since 2020, this knowledgeable figure in ecumenical matters has led the Ecuadorian Bishops’ Conference.

► Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib of Santiago, Chile

Archbishop of Santiago—his hometown—since December 2023, Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomali Garib, 67, was ordained a priest in 1991. A specialist in bioethical issues—he has been a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life since 2015—he identifies as a "Palestinian descendant" through his family origins.

He has been one of the most active Chilean bishops in recent years in combating sexual abuse. After the local church was deeply shaken by the "Karadima case"—a scandal that led all Chilean bishops to offer their resignation in May 2018 in Rome—Archbishop Chomali Garib has vigorously fought against clericalism and the culture of opacity within the institution.

► Bishop Mykola Bychok, the youngest cardinal

Born in Ternopil, Ukraine, in 1980, Mykola Bychok will become the youngest member of the College of Cardinals on December 8; the current youngest cardinal is Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, born in 1974. In 1997, at the age of 17, this member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, also known as the Redemptorists. He was ordained a priest for the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Lviv in 2005.

After his ordination, the young priest was sent as a missionary to a parish in Russia before returning to Ukraine, where he was appointed superior of the St. Joseph Redemptorist Monastery in Ivano-Frankivsk. In 2015, he moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he served as vicar for the Ukrainian Catholic parish. On January 15, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia.

► Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo

Since May 2023, he has served as head of Caritas Internationalis—a confederation of over 160 Catholic organizations serving populations worldwide. The Japanese bishop, 65, is considered a “Bergoglian” at heart. Born in 1958 in Iwate, northeastern Japan, Isao Kikuchi made his profession of faith with the Missionaries of the Divine Word in March 1985. As a young priest, he was sent as a missionary to Ghana, where he served as a parish priest in a rural area for eight years.

After being appointed bishop of Niigata (Western Japan) in 2004, he became the Archbishop of Tokyo in 2017. In May 2023, Pope Francis praised his appointment as president of Caritas and encouraged the organization—then facing governance difficulties and under Vatican oversight—to "move forward courageously on the path of reform."

► Bishop Pablo Virgilio Siongco David, a voice against violence in the Philippines

In the Philippines, where he is known as "Bishop Ambo," Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who has led the Diocese of Caloocan—one of the cities in Greater Manila and the third-largest city in the archipelago—since 2015, is widely praised for his fight against injustice and violence and for his care for the poor. In recent years, he has frequently raised his voice against the bloody anti-drug war led by former President Rodrigo Duterte, who ruled the country from 2016 to 2022.

“Bishop Ambo,” who was trained by the Jesuits, later studied under the former Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, currently pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, before being ordained a priest in 1983. At 65, he has also served as president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines since July 2021.

► Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto

Archbishop Frank Leo was born on June 30, 1971, in Montreal. After earning a bachelor's degree at the Montreal Theological Training Institute and a licentiate and doctorate in theology from the International Marian Research Institute of Dayton (Ohio), he was ordained a priest in 1996. In 2008, he joined the Vatican diplomatic service. He was assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Australia and later to the Vatican study mission in Hong Kong.

In 2012, he returned to Montreal, where he was appointed rector of the major seminary and director of the Department of Dogmatics at the University of Montreal. He also founded the Canadian Mariological Society. From 2015 to 2021, he served as secretary general of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2022, Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop and moderator of the Montreal archdiocesan curia. In 2023, he was named Archbishop of Toronto.

► Archbishop Ladislav Nemet, The voice of the Balkans

Born in 1956 in northern Serbia, in a family of Hungarian origin, and a member of the Society of the Divine Word since 1977, Ladislav Nemet, 68, was ordained a priest in 1983. After studying theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, he served as a missionary in the Philippines before teaching in Poland, Croatia, and Austria. These international experiences led him to collaborate with the Holy See's Permanent Mission to the UN in Vienna. In 2008, he was appointed bishop of Zrenjanin in Serbia.

Since 2016, Archbishop Nemet has been president of the International Episcopal Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius (covering Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). He is also vice-president of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and was appointed Archbishop of Belgrade in 2022. In a country with a large Orthodox majority, Ladislav Nemet works to ensure that Catholics, about 5% of the population, find their place in society.

► Archbishop Jaime Spengler, Pope Francis’ ally in Latin America

This Brazilian Franciscan, 64, was elected in 2023 as president of the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM). Born in the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, Archbishop Jaime Spengler was ordained a priest in 1990. He studied philosophy and theology in Brazil before continuing his studies in Jerusalem and Rome. He has since carried out various missions in teaching and formation, particularly within the Franciscan family.

Appointed auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Porto Alegre in 2010, he became its archbishop in 2013, appointed by the recently elected Pope Francis. Francis also appointed him to two dicasteries, and Spengler participated in the Synod of Bishops on Youth in 2018. In 2023, he was also elected president of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference. As president of CELAM, the Brazilian Franciscan is participating in the Synod on Synodality.

► Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan

Born in 1961 in Côte d'Ivoire, Ignace Bessi Dogbo was ordained a priest in 1987. In just a few months, the pope appointed him archbishop of the important diocese of Abidjan—he was installed in August—and is now a cardinal. In 2004, then-Father Bessi was named bishop of Katiola in the north. In 2017, this biblical scholar was elected president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ivory Coast (CECCI). Until 2023, he worked to promote financial independence for the Ivorian Church.

In 2021, he remained in northern Côte d'Ivoire and became archbishop of Korhogo, the country's third-largest city. He then was appointed to Abidjan and became one of the most important voices in the Ivorian Church.

► Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur, a boost for Indonesia

Barely a month after his trip to Indonesia, Pope Francis appointed a third Indonesian cardinal. Aged 62, Paskalis Bruno Syukur was born in Ranggu, on the island of Flores. This Franciscan was ordained a priest in 1991. In 2001, he became the provincial superior of the Indonesian province before becoming, in 2009, the superior for the Asia-Oceania zone within his order. In November 2013, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Bogor in the western part of the island of Java. As secretary general of the Bishops' Conference of Indonesia, he was heavily involved in the pope's visit to his country from September 3-6, where Catholics are a small minority.

► Archbishop Roberto Repole of Turin, Theologian of Synodality

Born in Turin in 1967, Archbishop Repole studied philosophy and theology at the Turin seminary, where he was ordained a priest in 1992. Alongside his pastoral mission, he continued studying systematic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His thesis focused on the thought of the French theologian Henri de Lubac in dialogue with philosopher Gabriel Marcel. A canon of the royal church of Saint-Laurent in Turin since 2010, in 2016, he wrote an essay-plea on synodality, a topic dear to Pope Francis. In 2022, Pope Francis appointed him the 95th metropolitan archbishop of Turin and bishop of Susa.

► Archbishop Baldassare Reina, A political signal for Romans

Archbishop Baldassare Reina was born in 1970 in San Giovanni Gemini, in the Archdiocese of Agrigento, Sicily. In 2022, Pope Francis appointed him titular bishop of Acque Albe in Mauretania and auxiliary bishop of Rome. In the Roman Vicariate, he oversees the management of assets, the legal department, the secretariat general, and the service for the protection of minors and vulnerable people.

► Father Fabio Baggio, Migration expert at the Vatican

His appointment embodies Pope Francis's priority for the cause of migrants and refugees. This 59-year-old Italian priest, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, has honed his expertise in the field, serving as a missionary in Latin America and the Philippines. Multilingual, he travels the world promoting interreligious dialogue as a tool for social cohesion, advocating for legal migration pathways worldwide and an ethical approach to integration. Quiet but influential, Father Baggio represents a church attentive to the peripheries, faithful to Pope Francis' vision.

► Msgr. George Jacob Koovakad, Organizer of the pope's travels

Aged 51, Msgr. George Jacob Koovakad hails from the Syro-Malabar Diocese of Changanacherry in Kerala, India. Ordained a priest in 2004, he joined the Vatican diplomatic service in 2006 after training at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He served in apostolic nunciatures in Algeria, South Korea, Iran, Costa Rica, and Venezuela before joining the Vatican Secretariat of State in 2020. Since 2021, he has played a crucial role in organizing the pope’s international trips.