Pope announces new cardinals from Mali, Spain, Sweden, Laos, Salvador

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis announced he will create five new cardinals June 28; the new cardinals-designate come from Mali, Spain, Sweden, Laos and El Salvador. Unusually, the group of prelates announced by the Pope May 21 includes an auxiliary bishop whose archbishop is not a cardinal; he is Cardinal-designate Gregorio Rosa Chavez, 74, the current auxiliary bishop of San Salvador. The other Churchmen who will receive red hats are: Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, 73; Archbishop Juan Jose Omella of Barcelona, Spain, 71; Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, Sweden, 67; and Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Pakse, Laos, 73. After briefly talking about the day's Gospel reading, leading the crowd in St. Peter's Square in reciting the "Regina Coeli" prayer and greeting various groups present, instead of wishing everyone a good Sunday and a good lunch -- the normal procedure at the noon prayer -- Pope Francis made his announcement. The five new cardinals coming from "different parts of the world demonstrates the catholicity of the Church spread across the globe," Pope Francis said. And the practice of assigning to each of them a Church in Rome "expresses that the cardinals belong to the Diocese of Rome," which, as St. Ignatius of Antioch explained, "presides in charity over all the Churches." 

Salvadoran cardinal-designate dedicates appointment to Blessed Romero
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (CNS) -- Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez dedicated his appointment as El Salvador's first Catholic cardinal to his longtime friend and mentor, Blessed Oscar Romero, a slain archbishop who has come to symbolize the small Central American country's fight for justice. Cardinal-designate Rosa Chavez said he was surprised by a 5 a.m. call May 21 with news of announcement from the Vatican. He said at first thought it was a joke. He expressed his "profound gratitude" to God and Pope Francis, who named him and archbishops from Mali, Spain, Sweden and Laos as the next cardinals. "It's a gift from God," Cardinal-designate Rosa Chavez, auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, said in remarks to the media in El Salvador. The decision, unique because San Salvador's archbishop is not a cardinal, comes as the Church in Salvador has pushed for sainthood for Blessed Romero, who was shot to death in 1980 at the start of the country's 12-year civil war as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel. "I dedicate this appointment to Archbishop Romero,' said Cardinal-designate Rosa Chavez. "I believe that he would have been called for this, but he will have to receive it in heaven due to his martyrdom."