VATICAN (CNS): Pope Francis announced on May 20 that he would elevate 14 new cardinals—two from Asia—on June 29. He said that coming from 11 nations, the cardinals-elect “express the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all people of the earth.”
 
Among those who will receive the red hat are 72-year-old Archbishop Joseph Coutts of Karachi, Pakistan; the Papal Almoner, 54-year-old Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, from Poland; and the 69-year-old Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, from Iraq.
 
Pope Francis’ list included three men over the age of 80 “who have distinguished themselves for their service to the Church.” They are: Archbishop Sergio Obeso Rivera, former archbishop of Xalapa, Mexico, who is 86-years-old;  Bishop Toribio Ticona Porco, former bishop of Corocoro, Bolivia, who is 81; and 80-year-old Claretian Father Aquilino Bocos Merino, from Spain.
 
Others on Pope Francis’ list are: Archbishop Thomas Aquinas Manyo Maeda of Osaka, Japan, who is aged 69, Archbishop Luis Ladaria, from Spain, the 74-year-old, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Italian Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, 64-year-old papal vicar for the Diocese of Rome; 69-year-old Archbishop Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the substitute secretary of state; Bishop Antonio dos Santos Marto of Leiria-Fatima, Portugal, who is 71; Archbishop Pedro Barreto of Huancayo, Peru, who is 74; 63-year-old Archbishop Desire Tsarahazana of Toamasina, Madagascar; and Archbishop Giuseppe Petrocchi of L’Aquila, Italy, who is 69-years-old.
 
With the new nominations, the number of cardinal-electors—those under 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave—will exceed by five the limit of 120 set by Pope Paul VI, however, previous popes have also set the limit aside without formally changing the limit.
 
After the consistory on June 29, Pope Francis will have created almost half of the voting cardinals. Nineteen of those under 80 in late June will have been given their red hats by St. John Paul II; 47 will have been created cardinals by emeritus Pope Benedict XVI; and 59 will have been welcomed into the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis.