Christmas consistory: Big crowds, festive air for well-wishers of new cardinals

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Moments after Pope Francis placed red hats on the heads of 21 new cardinals, the newest members of the College of Cardinals, many far from their places of ministry, were united with friends, family and their flock to celebrate.

St. Peter's Square was filled with visitors, many taking a break from Christmas shopping to see the official lighting of the Christmas tree and the unveiling of the Vatican's Nativity scene.

Then, on the other side of St. Peter's Basilica, in the Paul VI Audience Hall, the Vatican hosted the fifth edition of its "Concert for the Poor." More than 6,000 people in need and those who assist them attended the event, which featured Hans Zimmer, the two-time Oscar and four-time Grammy award-winning composer

The police presence and security were very heavy, especially for the long lines weaving around wooden barricades for the hundreds of faithful, some with flags in hand of their home countries, waiting to see the new cardinals inside the Apostolic Palace.

A continent away from home, Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, welcomed some 45 members of his flock in the palace's Lapidary Gallery -- a vast corridor housing the Vatican's richest collection of ancient inscriptions, sarcophagi and stone artifacts.

"It is normal in Ivory Coast to make great voyages for your family," Father Ambroise Mandah, vicar general of the Archdiocese of Abidjan, told Catholic News Service following the consistory. "This is an honor for the cardinal, but also for all of us. The whole church in Ivory Coast is honored by this nomination, so it is natural to celebrate it together."

Several of the visitors from Ivory Coast wore colorful scarves, headbands or entire dresses bearing the logo of the church in the country.

Cardinals from 17 different countries received their faithful from their current dioceses, and those from previous regions where they served, in a festive atmosphere as several decorated Christmas trees were scattered throughout the palace and the halls of the Vatican.

A large group of Ukrainians gathered around Cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia, to sing an old traditional Christmas song. Two guards in charge of keeping order tried in vain to convince the crowd to form a line behind the velvet ropes forming the reception line.

Volodymyr Babiy came from London with his wife and child, and all three were wearing the colorful traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt or vyshyvanka. Babiy and his family are from the cardinal's hometown of Ternopil, Ukraine, and his sister-in-law is married to the cardinal's brother.

"He's very down-to-earth, a very simple man and very easy going," he said of the new cardinal.

"It means a lot to have a cardinal from Ukraine," he said, "especially during this hard time of war. It's very symbolic as we're struggling to defend the country and Christians have it hard as well," Babiy told CNS.

Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto has also been able to see first-hand how different Christian communities live out their faith as he served in the nunciature in Australia and served briefly at the Holy See's mission in Bangkok, Thailand, and at the Holy See's study mission in Hong Kong.

These postings "gave me an international perspective that I would not have had otherwise," he told CNS.

"Seeing the church present and active and vibrant and suffering in different parts of the world, I think allows me to see, to discern maybe a little better the signs of the times and see how things are done and lived elsewhere from which we can learn," he said. It also gives him "a greater sensitivity to the suffering of those that we serve here at home, having experienced it and seen it elsewhere."

Born to Italian parents who immigrated to Canada after World War II, a small group of the cardinal's Italian relatives traveled from Calabria for the ceremony.

"Our fathers are cousins," said Francesca and Monia Straticò. Monia also studied in Rome at the same time Cardinal Leo was doing his studies at the Vatican's school for diplomatic service. "So we are like brother and sister," she said.

Holding a tiny Lithuanian flag, Vilija Oke was standing in line to greet Lithuanian Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas. A longtime Vatican diplomat, the new cardinal spent some years at the nunciature in Sweden where Oke lives.

"He worked in Africa, the United States, Europe, so he knows how to unite people. He knows their different needs and perspectives," Oke said.

For Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, the consistory became a reunion with Argentinians he knew back home that are now based in Rome, including the pope.

Cardinal Bokalic served as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires from 2010 to 2013, when Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the future Pope Francis, led the archdiocese.

He told journalists Dec. 6 that Archbishop Bergoglio's leadership was characterized by "listening" and promoting dialogue.

"It was a learning moment for us, to learn that style," which the cardinal noted is continuing through the promotion of synodality in the church.

Some 120 people were expected at the Vatican to greet Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The cardinal told CNS that many from the large Ecuadorian communities in Genoa and Milan made the trip to Rome to join in the celebration.

The cardinal was a president delegate at the assembly Synod of Bishops on synodality in October, which coincided with the pope's announcement of then-Archbishop Cabrera's nomination as cardinal.

Cardinal Cabrera said he approached the pope at the synod to thank him for the nomination, and in return the pope gave him a warning of the greetings which follow the consistory: "When you become a cardinal you will become red, not from the clothes but from embarrassment at all the attention."