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Pakistan and Japan get surprise red hats from Pope Francis

The pontiff has once more made a string of left of field choices many from the churches peripheries
Pakistan and Japan get surprise red hats from Pope Francis

Archbishop Thomas Aquinas  Manyo Maeda of Japan’s Osaka (left) and Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi in Pakistan have been made cardinals by the pope. (Combination image: Left photo supplied, right photo by Zahid Hussain/ucanews.com)

Published: May 21, 2018 07:14 AM GMT
Updated: May 21, 2018 11:12 AM GMT

Once again, Pope Francis has made cardinals of bishops in unexpected dioceses in Asia. Archbishop Thomas Aquinas  Manyo Maeda of Osaka in Japan and Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi in Pakistan are the two surprise appointments.

Both countries have small Catholic minorities. There are about 950,000 Catholics in Japan — about 450,000 of whom are Japanese nationals and the remainder expatriates, largely from the Philippines and descendants of Japanese who emigrated to South America early in the 20th century. In Pakistan, there are about one million Catholics among the 2.5 million Christians in the country's 180 million people, the vast majority of whom are Muslims.

"I am happy to announce that on June 29, I will hold a consistory to make 14 new cardinals," Pope Francis said, referring to their investiture ceremony, in remarks to people gathered in St. Peter's Square on May 20 for his Sunday Angelus Audience.

"The countries of provenance express the universality of the church, which continues to announce the merciful love of God to all people on earth," he added.

Cardinal-designate Coutts served as the bishop of Hyderabad Diocese from 1990 till 1998 before moving to Faisalabad Diocese. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him archbishop of Karachi.

"In this diocese the church has for over six decades brought good news in the fields of education and medicine, and in the case of natural disasters reached out to those who have been affected, injured or become sick," said Cardinal-designate Coutts.

"It's time to promote harmony. That is our new motto. We have to learn it and teach it. Now we are tasked with restoring harmony to this seaport city by welcoming people from different customs and traditions."

Over the past 15 years especially, the Catholic Church in Pakistan has been assailed by a string of deadly attacks and many of its followers have been caught up by the nation's strict blasphemy laws that Cardinal-designate Coutts has campaigned against.

Cardinal-designate Maeda was himself reportedly surprised at his appointment along with local Catholics as Archbishop Kikuchi, the new archbishop of Tokyo, was expected to get a red hat. Archbishop Kikuchi is president of Caritas Asia and is well-known in Rome. He is a member of the Divine Word religious congregation, is multilingual and has worked in Ghana as a missionary. Cardinal-designate Maeda speaks no foreign languages and has no international experience.

But Father Michael Kelly, executive director of ucanews.com, said that in his view Kikuchi might be "not long for Tokyo. He's officer material and there are spots coming up in dicasteries where he'd be well placed to take over including Caritas and a few others."

Father Kelly also noted that the pope listens to advisers, including Jesuits, when making decisions on senior appointments.

As well as the two Asian nations, the pope also made cardinals from Iraq, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Peru, Madagascar as well as several high ranking Vatican officials including Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the powerful sostiuto or chief of staff in the Secretariat of State. He has also been the pope's special delegate for the resolution of troubles in the Order of Malta.

Of the new cardinals, 11 are under 80, making them eligible to vote for — or be chosen as — Pope Francis' successor.

The new cardinals will receive their "red hats" at a consistory in Rome on June 29, the feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The addition of 11 new members of the College of Cardinals takes the number under 80 that can vote to elect a pope to 125, higher than the limit of 120 set by Pope Paul VI. Pope Francis has already appointed 60 cardinals in his five years as pope and there are now 213 living cardinals.

The other cardinals announced on May 20 are the pope's vicar-general for Rome Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, Spanish archbishop and Jesuit Luis Ladaria who is Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Antonio dos Santos Marto of Fatima, Portugal; Pedro Barreto, archbishop of Huancayo, Peru; Msgr. Desire Tsarahazana, archbishop of Toamasina, Madagascar; and Msgr. Giuseppe Petrocchi, archbishop of L'Aquila, Italy.

The three bishops over 80 who were named cardinals are emeritus — the archbishop of Xalapa, Mexico, Sergio Obeso Rivera; Toribio Ticona Porco, a bishop from Corocoro, Bolivia; and Father Aquilino Bocos Merino of Spain.

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