VATICAN CITY – In the tenth Consistory of the pontificate of Pope Francis which took place on Saturday in the Vatican basilica, packed with 5,500 faithful, 21 new Cardinals were created, coming from every corner of the world: from Algeria to Iran, from Ukraine to Chile and to Brazil, from Argentina to Japan, passing through Rome, Naples and Turin, the faithful from all five continents gathered in the Vatican to pay homage to the “their” new porporati (“dressed in purple”, from the colour of their robe).

The largest groups were, clearly, those following the Italian cardinals, among whom there was also Francis Leo, the Archbishop of Toronto. “Hey, I’m Italian too. I have Calabrian origins, I am the son of emigrants”, said the new Cardinal Leo, giving anyone who came to pay him a broad smile and the blessing “God accompany you”.

As Vatican News reports (here), Leo said he was “truly happy” for this moment of Church lived together with brothers, friends and relatives. “I am moved by the choice of the Holy Father, I am unworthily part of this College to serve the Lord. I see it as a call to be an instrument of ecclesial communion, unity, testimony, belonging to the Church with every beat of the heart and with every drop of blood”, said Leo, son of Italian emigrants to Canada, who arrived in Rome for the Consistory with his father “half Calabrian and half Campanian” as Leo said in an interview published by the Italian newspaper Avvenire (here). For his father (in the first pic below), it was the first time back to Italy after almost seventy years. With them, also a delegation of Canadians which included – among others – Teresa Lubinski, trustee of the TCDSB, the Toronto police chief, Myron Demkiw, and the conservative MP Michael Barrett (in the other three pics below, courtesy of Teresa Lubinski).

“I will be an instrument of unity”, said the new cardinal Leo, taking up the most recurring word both in Pope Francis’ homily and in the introductory speech of the oldest ever to receive the cardinalate, the former apostolic nuncio Angelo Acerbi , 99 years old, who recalled the need to “walk together”.

In the homily, then, the Pope reiterated one of the pillars of his teaching: not chasing first places but cultivating, in humility, brotherhood. In the group of disciples “the worm of competition destroys unity”, said the Pontiff. The cardinals are invited not to fall into this temptation, but to break down the walls of enmity. This is the spirit that makes the difference, in a world marked by “corrosive competition”, in a society dominated by the obsession with appearance and the search for first places. “For this reason, casting his gaze on you, who come from different histories and cultures and represent the catholicity of the Church, the Lord calls you to be witnesses of brotherhood, artisans of communion and builders of unity. This is your mission, walking in the way of Jesus: together, with humility, wonder and joy” said the Pope, who not surprisingly introduced, among the new 21 Cardinals, five new geographical origins: Algeria, Australia, Ecuador, Iran, Serbia.

The College of Cardinals now consists of 253 porporati. One of them, one day, will be Pope.

In the pic above, the moment Francis Leo becomes Cardinal (screenshot from the video published on Vatican News’ YouTube channel, with the whole Consistory – here below)