TORONTO – Pope Francis announced after his Sunday Angelus that he would hold a Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals on 8 December 2024, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in the Vatican: among the 21 new Cardinals, there is Toronto’s Archbishop Frank Francis Leo (in the pic above). 

Leo is Italian Canadian: he was born in Montreal (on 30 June 1971) to Italian immigrant parents, Francesco Leo and Rosa Valente, originally from Naples. He entered the Grand Seminary of Montreal in 1990 and was ordained a priest for service to the city’s archdiocese in 1996. Leo has held various parish assignments in Montréal until 2006 when he accepted the invitation to enroll in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome and subsequently in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See (2006-2012), serving in various Apostolic Nunciatures around the world. In January 2012 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Chaplain of His Holiness giving him the title of Monsignor. Upon his return to Canada, Archbishop Leo joined the formation team of the Grand Séminaire de Montréal, teaching theology and philosophy (his curriculum of studies is impressive) and providing spiritual direction, formation and accompaniment to candidates for the priesthood. In the fall of 2015 he was appointed secretary general of the Canadian Episcopal Conference, a mandate which ended in the fall of 2021. Since 1 February 2022, Monsignor Leo has been appointed vicar general and moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Montreal. On July 16, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Montreal. His consecration as bishop took place on September 12, 2022. He was appointed as Archbishop of Toronto in the February of 2023 (the installation ceremony took place on March: read our article here) and now Pope Francis made him Cardinal: a very important role in the Catholic Church, given that the cardinals elect the Pope.

“I am humbled and honoured to receive this appointment from the Holy Father. I pray and rely on the prayers of the faithful in Toronto – Frank Leo wrote today on the website of the Archdiocese of Toronto: read it here – that I will be a worthy servant of the Lord Jesus in fulfilling my responsibilities as a member of the College of Cardinals and to continue in my primary role as shepherd of the faithful of the Archdiocese of Toronto. I entrust to the Blessed Mother Mary, myself and this new ministry of service to the Universal Church and to the Successor of St. Peter, the Pope”.

In choosing the Cardinals, the Pontiff wanted to “represent” the whole world: from Italy to Canada, in fact, but also from Iran to Indonesia, from Japan to the Philippines, from the Ivory Coast to Algeria, the countries of origin of the new Cardinals are all over the world. “Their origins – said Pope Francis – expresses the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all people on earth. Their inclusion in the Diocese of Rome also manifests the inseparable bond between the See of Peter and the particular Churches spread throughout the world”.