Pope Francis named Archbishop Jose Fuerte Advincula of Capiz as the ninth Filipino cardinal yesterday, Oct. 25.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said the pope announced the new appointments during his Angelus on Sunday in the Vatican.
The pontiff said Advincula and the 12 new cardinals would be elevated at a consistory on Nov. 28, the CBCP website added.
Advincula served as the second bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos for 10 years, from 2001 to 2011. He assumed as Capiz archbishop in January 2012.
He is the second cardinal from Western Visayas after Jaime Cardinal Sin, of New Washington, Aklan.
A highlight of his religious career came immediately prior to his San Carlos assignment, when he was appointed on March 19, 1997 as chaplain of Pope John Paul II.
Advincula, 68, was born in Dumalag, Capiz on March 30, 1952. He was ordained priest on April 4, 1976.
On July 25, 2001, Pope Benedict named him prelate of the San Carlos Diocese.
The CBCP News said Advincula becomes the ninth Filipino cardinal, following cardinals Orlando Quevedo, Luis Antonio Tagle, Gaudencio Rosales, Jose Sanchez, Ricardo Vidal, Jaime Sin, Julio Rosales and Rufino Santos.
He is among the nine new cardinals eligible to vote in a conclave. The four others are over 80s, the CBCP News added.
The Capiceno native will also be the fourth living Filipino cardinals, alongside Rosales, Quevedo and Tagle, who is the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
But both Rosales and Quevedo are over 80 and are no longer eligible to take part in a conclave when the time comes to elect a new pope, the CBCP said..
Advincula is currently the vice-chairman of the Committee on International Eucharistic Congress of the CBCP and the Office on Women.
Other cardinals-designate include Washington Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Maltese Bishop Mario Grech, who became secretary general of the Synod of Bishops in September, and the Italian Bishop Marcello Semeraro, who was named prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints earlier this month, reports from the Vatican said.
Also receiving the red hat is the Italian Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who has served as the Preacher to the Papal Household since 1980. Aged 86, he will not be eligible to vote in a future conclave.
Others appointed to the College of Cardinals were Archbishop Celestino Aós Braco of Santiago, Chile; Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda; and Bishop Cornelius Sim, Vicar Apostolic of Brunei.
Also elevated to the rank of cardinal are Archbishop Augusto Paolo Lojudice, former Rome auxiliary bishop and current Archbishop of Siena-Colle di Val d’Elsa-Montalcino, Italy; and Fra Mauro Gambetti, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi.
Alongside Cantalamessa, the pope named three others who will receive the red hat but be unable to vote in conclaves: Emeritus Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico; Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi, Permanent Observer Emeritus to the United Nations Office and Specialized Agencies in Geneva; and Enrico Feroci, parish priest of Santa Maria del Divino Amore at Castel di Leva, Rome, said the CBCP News, quoting the Catholic News Agency.
