INDONESIA-VATICAN Syukur renounces his appointment as cardinal

Reactions in Indonesia to the election of the bishop of Bogor, who asked Francis to be removed from the list of prelates who will receive the purple on December 7. The president of the Episcopal Conference, Antonio Subianto Bunjamin: “Bishop Paskalis knows what is best for him, for the diocese and for the Church.”

Jakarta () – The advertisement made last night by the Vatican that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the appointment as cardinal of Monsignor Paskalis Bruno Syukur, bishop of Bogor, one of the 21 new cardinals who were announced on October 6 and who will be created in the next consistory of the September 7 and 8, was received with great amazement in Indonesia. “His Excellency’s request is motivated by his desire to grow even more in his priestly life, in his service to the Church and the people of God,” wrote the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni, in a note.

Monsignor Suykur, a 62-year-old minor friar, who has led the diocese of Bogor since 2013 and is also secretary of the Indonesian Episcopal Conference, would become the first cardinal of Flores, the island considered the heart of Indonesian Catholicism. When his appointment was announced, which came as a surprise, everyone in the local community had already highlighted the great simplicity of this bishop. And today his gesture is seen in continuity with this human trait of his.

From Rome, where he is attending the Synod, the president of the Indonesian Episcopal Conference, Bishop Antonius Subianto Bunjamin, bishop of Bandung, declared himself shocked by the news. But he quickly added: «We appreciate the decision of Bishop Paskalis. Surely he knows what is best for him, for his diocese and for the Church in general. Let us pray.

With Suykur’s resignation, there remain three cardinals in the history of the Indonesian Catholic Church: the first was Justinus Darmojuwono, archbishop of Semarang, who received the purple from Paul VI in 1967 and died in 1994. The other two are still alive: Card. Julius Darmaatmadja, archbishop emeritus of Jakarta, 90 years old, created cardinal by John Paul II in 1994, and card. Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, current archbishop of the capital, to whom Pope Francis granted the title in 2019.