World Touch
ASIA: Asia Is Taking Its Rightful Place In The Church
The Catholic Church is supposed to be universal and Pope Francis is making that word finally mean something with the recent appointment of a number of Asian cardinals, the region’s top church leaders said.
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Jan 2023Speaking at a press conference during the general conference of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences at the Baan Phu Pastoral Center of the Bangkok archdiocese, Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay (second from left, in picture) said the latest nomination of cardinals shows that “Asia is taking its rightful place in the Church.”
With six new cardinals from Asia, the region’s number of cardinal electors who will choose the next pope rose to 21–five are from India, two from the Philippines, two from South Korea and one each from Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, Laos, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore, and East Timor.
The continent now has the second highest number of cardinal electors to choose the next pope, after Europe.