Pope names another new cardinal for December consistory

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has decided to include Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples among the prelates he will make cardinals Dec. 7, the Vatican press office said.

“Pope Francis announces that he has included among the names of the new cardinals who will be created during the next consistory, Dec. 7, His Excellency Domenico Battaglia, archbishop of Naples,” Matteo Bruni, director of the press office, said in a statement released late Nov. 4.

Pope Francis usually announces the names of the men he has chosen publicly after the Sunday recitation of the Angelus as he did when he announced Oct. 6 that he would create 21 new cardinals in December.

The pope does not inform the new cardinals before the public announcement; many learn about it when they become inundated with congratulatory messages.

It was not clear if Archbishop Battaglia was an exception. However, the website of the Archdiocese of Naples, at least initially, posted a simple note saying that the Vatican press office announced it.

Pope Francis’ 10th consistory to create cardinals has had a few unusual moments already. The pope had announced the consistory would be Dec. 8. A week later, the Vatican announced it would be Dec. 7, but that the new cardinals would concelebrate a Mass Dec. 8 with Pope Francis and the current members of the College of Cardinals.

Then, Oct. 22 Bruni announced that Pope Francis had accepted the request of one of the original 21 cardinals-designate, Indonesian Bishop Paskalis Bruno Syukur of Bogor, to be dispensed from becoming a cardinal. The bishop, Bruni said, wanted “to grow further in priestly life, in his service to the Church and the people of God.”

Archbishop Battaglia, 61, was installed as archbishop of Naples in February 2021.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1988 for the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace and was known as a “street priest,” caring for the poor and directing a therapeutic community for people with drug addictions. Pope Francis named him bishop of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant’Agata de’ Goti in 2016.