He Pope Francisco announced this Sunday the appointment of 21 cardinals, among which are three Argentines. It’s about the priest Luis Drithe monsignor Victor Manuel Fernandez and the Archbishop of Córdoba Angel Sixto Rossi. According to the pontiff, his appointments represent “the universality of the Church“.
The consistory will be the ninth for the creation of cardinals under Pope Francis, who is in the 10th year of his papacy. These elections are closely watched, as cardinals under the age of 80 will participate in the vote for name the successor of the Argentine pope.
In this sense, with the incorporation of the new group of cardinals, Argentina will have seven cardinals, four with the right to vote in case a conclave is held to elect the next Pope. Both Fernández and Rossi will be able to vote in this situation, while Father Dri, 96, will not be able to do so because he exceeds the age limit.
Pope Francis will name 21 new cardinals, including 3 Argentines (one 96 years old)
Luis Pascual Dri, Bergoglio’s “great confessor”
Francis quoted Luis Pascual Dri numerous times, whom he described as a “great confessor.”
the cappuccino Luis Pascual Dri, 96 years old, was born on April 17, 1927 in Federación, Entre Ríos. The priest comes from a family in which all the children except one were consecrated to God in religious life. At the age of four he was orphaned and from the age of seven he had to start working.
The priest lives in the Nuestra Señora de Pompeya sanctuary and convent (Buenos Aires) and retired in 2007. Despite this, the friar spends every morning and evening in the confessional, continuing “until the candles burn out”as explained to the medium Vatican News.
In addition, was quoted repeatedly by Pope Francis. The last time was in the meeting with the priests of Rome in St. John Lateran and with the confessors of the Jubilee, where he remembered Dri as “a great confessor.”
“Once (Dri) came to meet me, he wanted to talk. He told me: ‘I ask you for help, I always have so many people in front of the confessional, people of all kinds, humble and less humble, but also many priests… I forgive a lot and sometimes a scruple comes to me, the scruple of having forgiven too much.‘” began the Supreme Pontiff.
And he added: “We talked about mercy, and I asked him what he did when he felt that scruple. He answered me like this: ‘I go to our little chapel, in front of the tabernacle and I say to Jesus: Lord, forgive me because I have forgiven too much. But it was you! who gave me a bad example!’ This I will never forget. When a priest experiences mercy with himself in this way, he can give it to others“.
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Regarding the words of the Pope, the priest considered that his words “shocked Bergoglio, they stuck with him”. “You know that I go to confession a lot, for many hours, in the morning and at night. And more than once, you have advised some priests, due to some problem, to come and talk to me, I have listened to them and now we are great friends, some of them of them come often, we talk, and they get along very well spiritually, pastorally,” Dri previously told Vatican News.
“I must thank the Pope very much for the trust he has placed in me, because I don’t deserve it. I am not a person, a priest, a friar who has studied, I do not have a doctorate, I have nothing. But life has taught me a lot, life has marked me, and since I was born very poor, I feel that I must always have a word of mercy, help, closeness for whoever comes here. Let no one leave thinking that they have not been understood or despised or rejected,” he added.
Despite being recognized for his work as a confessor by Francis himself, the friar had no particular advice to give his “companion” confessors. “Starting with myself, we must not be civil servants who simply do something: ‘Yes, I have acquitted him.’ ‘Yes, no, and that’s it.’ Quite the contrary. I think we must have a certain closeness, a special kindness, because sometimes there are people who don’t know very well what confession is,” he explained.
“The confession… all it takes is the desire to be better, nothing more. You don’t have to think with whom, or how many times, or that or that. All those things don’t help. I feel like they push the person away. And I must make people come closer to God, to Jesus,” he concluded.
Victor Manuel “Tucho” Fernandez
Víctor Manuel Fernández has a maximum closeness and intellectual affinity with the Supreme Pontiff.
Victor Manuel “Tucho” Fernandez, 60 years old, was born on July 18, 1962 in Alcira Gigena, Córdoba. He was ordained a priest on August 15, 1986 for the diocese of Villa de la Concepción del Río Cuarto. He obtained a licentiate in theology with a biblical specialty at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) and later a doctorate in theology at the Faculty of Theology in Buenos Aires.
Throughout his life he wrote around 300 books and articles. In that sense, He is a theologian of maximum closeness and intellectual affinity with the Supreme Pontiffand it is one of its pillars for the writing of pontifical documents such as the exhortations of 2013, the gospel of joy; to of 2016, The joy of love and that of 2018, Rejoice and rejoice.
In addition, between 2009 and 2018 He was rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA), charge that was promoted by the then archbishop Bergoglio. He was also dean of the Faculty of Theology of said house of studies.
Added to this, the cardinal he was the first priest ordained in a hierarchical role by Pope Francis. In this sense, the Supreme Pontiff appointed him Archbishop of Tiburnia in May 2013. In 2018 he appointed him Archbishop of La Plata, replacing Monsignor Héctor Aguer. Likewise, in February of this year he joined the Vatican structure with the new Department for Culture and Education.
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In early July, Francis appointed him as new prefect of the Department for the Doctrine of the Faith. In this way, in mid-September he will supplant the Jesuit Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, who exceeded the 75-year limit for executive positions in the Curia. That position was also held by Joseph Ratzinger during almost the entire pontificate of John Paul II, before being anointed Pope as Benedict XVI.
Under the title “What Francisco asks me“, Fernández published a letter on his Facebook account this Saturday in which he says: “The first time (Francisco) asked me to I gave him several reasons to say no; One of them is that the task includes the issue of child abuse and I don’t feel prepared or trained for those issues.”
“Therefore, I would have to deal with something else that worries him a lot at this moment: encouraging reflection on the faith, deepening theology, promoting a thought that knows how to dialogue with what people live, animating a thought free, creative and deep Christian; this excited me, and I felt that I could not step aside when Francisco is asking me for help“, he pointed.
Angel Sixto Rossi, “spiritual son” of Bergoglio
Ángel Sixto Rossi is considered the “spiritual son” of Francisco.
Angel Sixto Rossi, 64 years old, was born on August 11, 1958 in Córdoba Capital. In 1976 he entered the Society of Jesus, and his admission and “adoption” of him as a son of Saint Ignatius was signed by the then provincial father of the Jesuit order in Argentina, Jorge Bergoglio. In that sense, he is considered Bergoglio’s “spiritual son.”
Rossi has a degree in Spiritual Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and completed his thesis on “Spiritual discernment in Saint Ignatius”. Between 1990 and 1992 he led the Church of El Salvador in Buenos Aires, where opened the “San José” Home aimed at meeting the needs of homeless people. Said home extended its headquarters in eleven Argentine cities and was recognized as an apostolic work with special ties to the Society of Jesus.
Added to this, he was novice master of the Society of Jesus between 1992 and 1995. In addition, he was Superior of the community of the Residence Hall in Córdoba from 2013 to 2019. Likewise, He is the author and co-author of numerous spiritual publications and books..
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In November 2021, Francis named him Archbishop of Córdoba, since it currently maintains. In this way, Rossi became the first Jesuit priest to hold that position.
in dialogue with Chain 3the archbishop described the appointment of cardinal as “a bombshell”. “As I’m about to walk down the aisle, a parishioner approaches me and tells me that the Pope made me a cardinal. I say: ‘It must have been a mistake, I have to go to Rome for the synod.’ the aisle to the altar. It was a bombshell,” he described.
In addition, he highlighted his two Argentine teammates. In the case of Dri, he maintained: “He was a confessor of Pope Francis, a symbol of the common sense of holiness.” For his part, he described Fernández as “great”, which “is good”. “We are the three Argentines and I feel very accompanied by these two greats. Shows the affection and closeness of Pope Francis“, he valued.
All cardinals under the age of 80, including 18 from the group named Sunday, are known as “cardinal electors”, who will participate in the vote to name the successor to Pope Francis. After the consistory at the end of September, there will be 137 cardinal electors, of which about three quarters will have been appointed by Francis.
Since becoming pope, Francis has sought to elevate clergy from developing countries far from Rome to the highest ranks of the Church, as part of his overall philosophy of diversity and inclusion. The names the church head announced also include clergy in regions where Christianity is growing, such as Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Cardinals, who wear the scarlet robes of office, are the pope’s chief advisers and administrators.. During the consistory, future cardinals kneel one by one at the feet of the Pope, who places on their heads the square scarlet cap, or mortarboard. After the ceremony, the Vatican holds a traditional “courtesy call,” in which the new cardinals greet the general public.
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