Who are the five Latin cardinals named by Pope Francis?

( Spanish) – Pope Francis named 21 new cardinals this Sunday, increasing the number of members of the College of Cardinals who will elect his successor.

The decision is a gesture that highlights his determination to remodel the group of ecclesiastics. During his pontificate, Francis reformed the composition of the body that will elect his successor to make it more representative of the global character of the Catholic Church.

He scrapped the old unwritten rule by which bishops of certain dioceses (several of them in Italy) are automatically made cardinals and instead handed out “red hats” to the peripheries.

An example of this is that, among the cardinals appointed by the pope, there are five Latin Americans.

He was born in Lima, Peru, on February 28, 1950. After studying in his native Lima, Castillo Mattasoglio was sent to Rome to pursue ecclesiastical studies. He has a bachelor’s degree and a doctorate in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, according to his biography published in the Vatican News site.

In 1984 he was ordained a priest in the archdiocese of Lima. The bishop has served as Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and advisor to the National Union of Catholic Students, as well as National Advisor to the Episcopal Youth Commission in Peru.

In 2019, Pope Francis appointed him metropolitan archbishop of the archdiocese of the Peruvian capital.

Originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bokalic studied Philosophy at the Colegio Máximo de San Miguel and Theology at the Buenos Aires Seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1978.

The bishop, 72 years old, has been responsible for Vocational and Youth Ministry in the Argentine capital, he was a trainer and bursar – as someone who manages the assets of a church or diocese is designated. During different periods he has worked in the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish and was a missionary and parish priest in the Diocese of Goya.

In 2010 he received episcopal consecration and, three years later, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, the Vatican site notes.

He was born in the Ecuadorian city of Azogues, on October 11, 1955. He has studies in Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador and has a doctorate in Philosophy from the Antonianum in Rome.

He was ordained a priest in 1983 and, since then, he has held positions as director of the Card B. Echeverría Philosophical-Theological Institute, in Quito, and secretary of the Ecumenism sector of the Episcopal Commission of Teaching and Doctrine of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference.

From 2003 to 2009 he was definer of the Franciscan Order and delegate of the Minister General for the Franciscan provinces of Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2015, according to the Vatican, he has been archbishop of Guayaquil.

Archbishop Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib

He was born on March 10, 1957 in Santiago, Chile. He studied Civil Engineering at the country’s Pontifical Catholic University and has studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Major Seminary of Santiago.

In 1991 he was ordained a priest for the archdiocese of Santiago de Chile. In addition, he has a degree in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Alfonsine Academy in Rome and a doctor in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He also has a master’s degree in Bioethics from the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and Family in Rome.

In 2023 he was appointed archbishop of Santiago de Chile. He is currently vice president of the Chilean Episcopal Conference.

Originally from the state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil, he was born on September 6, 1960. He has studied Philosophy at the Philosophical Institute of São Boaventura in Campo Largo, and Theology, both at the Franciscan Theological Institute of Petrópolis and at the Theological Institute from Jerusalem, where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sacred Scripture.

He has a degree in Philosophy from the Pontifical Ateneo Antonianum de Toma and has worked as a professor at different institutes in Brazil.

Spengler, 64, was named titular and auxiliary bishop of Porto Alegre. He received episcopal ordination in 2011 and two years later was named metropolitan archbishop of Porto Alegre.

This is the complete list of the new cardinals: