Pope Francis visits Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI with new cardinals

Nov 20th, 2016

At the conclusion of the Consistory celebration on Saturday, Pope Francis made a visit to Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI together with 16 of the 17 new cardinals he had just created. The 16 Cardinals in their new red hats, led by white-hatted Pope Francis, boarded two buses and made the short journey from St Peter's Basilica around to the Chapel of the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican. There they were greeted by Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI.

The one new Cardinal missing from the group was the 87-year-old bishop from Lesotho, Africa - Sebastian Koto Khoarai, OMI. Cardinal Khoarai did not make the trip to Rome due to his advanced age and infirmity and shall receive the insignia of his new office by Papal emissary.

Pope Francis created 17 new Cardinals on Saturday in St. Peter's Basilica, during an Ordinary Public Consistory he had convoked for that purpose: 13 Cardinal-electors, and four Cardinals above the age of 80, who received the 'Red Hat' in recognition of their exemplary service to the Church and witness to the Gospel.

The 13 Cardinal-electors are:

Mario Zenari, who remains the Apostolic Nuncio of the beloved and martyred Syria (Italy)
Dieudonné Nzapalainga, cssp., of Bangui (Central African Republic)
Carlos Osoro Sierra of Madrid (Spain)Sérgio da Rocha of Brasilia (Brazil)
Blase J Cupich of Chicago (USA)
Patrick D'Rozario, csc, of Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo of Mérida (Venezuela)
Jozef De Kesel of Malines-Bruxelles (Belgium)
Bishop Maurice Piat, cssp., of Port Louis (Mauritius)
Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life (USA)
Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepantla (Mexico)
John Ribat, msc, Archbishop of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea)
Joseph William Tobin, cssr, Archbishop of Indianapolis (USA) [On November 7h, 2016 the Holy Father Francis appointed him as Archbishop of Newark, USA]

The four Cardinals above the age of 80 years are:

Anthony Soter Fernandez, Archbishop emeritus of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
Renato Corti, Bishop emeritus of Novara (Italy)
Sebastian Koto Khoarai, OMI, Bishop emeritus of Mohale's Hoek (Lesotho) - who did not make the trip to Rome due to his advanced age and infirmity, and who shall receive the insignia of his new office by Papal emissary
and Ernest Simoni, Presbyter of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult (Shkodër - Albania)