By Father Peter Choy Wai-man
The first time I attended a consistory for the creation of new cardinals was when John Baptist Cardinal Wu Cheng-chung was elevated in 1988. I was studying in Rome at the time and I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony. Throughout the whole process, as a member of the diocese, apart from the honour and excitement I felt among the series of celebrations, I did not seem to have felt much of a deep impression.
After a lapse of 35 years, I had a very different feeling when I attended the elevation ceremony of Cardinal Chow on September 30. This time, the schedule was very tight. After the elevation ceremony in the morning, it was time to meet the public and receive congratulations. However, due to the large number of people offering congratulations, many were unable to enter the venue within the designated time. The Hong Kong delegation would have liked to invite Cardinal Chow to a luncheon to celebrate the occasion, but the Holy See’s arrangements made it impossible to do so because Cardinal Chow had to prepare in the afternoon for the evening ecumenical prayer meeting. Immediately following this was a three-day retreat in preparation for the month-long Synod of Bishops, which began on October 4. So, in short, there was no special celebration of Cardinal Chow’s elevation and even the welcome ceremony of his titular church which he must attend had to be postponed. Instead, there was a close relationship between the new cardinals and the Synod of Bishops.
This can be seen in Pope Francis’ message at the elevation. Quoting from the Acts of the Apostles about Pentecost, he pointed out that the elevation of the 21 new cardinals from different places, languages and cultures was like the coming of the Holy Spirit, who, through speak in their respective tongues, would make the Good News of the gospel known to all the nations of the world.
This is the ninth time that Pope Francis has elevated cardinals in his 10 years as pope. In the past decade, he has promoted more than 100 cardinals. Geographically, many of them are Latin American, African and Asian instead of European, American, Italian and other traditional countries. In terms of culture, many are from churches where religious relations are tense or where cultural differences collide with each other.
For this reason, Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed that the cardinals’ appointment was not accepted for the sake of higher honours or greater power, but for the sake of the Church’s mission of evangelisation, of proclaiming the Good News in intelligible languages to different peoples; of bearing witness in flesh and blood in different cultures in a visible way.
The purpose of linking the elevation of cardinals to the Synod of Bishops is to bring into the midst of the synod the experiences of the Churches from different geographies and cultures represented by these new cardinals, and to listen to one another in order to discern together what the Holy Spirit is doing in the different Churches.
Perhaps some people have reservations or even doubts about this way of conducting the Synod of Bishops, so the pope made a point of bringing out another image of the Church in his homily as an orchestra or a symphony. Voices from different Churches are like different musical instruments, each one producing a unique sound. However, under the direction of the same Holy Spirit, it is possible to form a harmonious piece of music with a very rich musical range, a Church of unity in diversity.
This Synod of Bishops is therefore a process by which the Church is returning to its roots again, so that through the voices of the cardinals of different nationalities and under the guidance of the same Holy Spirit, the experiences of salvation in different places and cultures can be heard, and that the gospel can be spread more effectively through different tongues.
Therefore, in addition to congratulating Bishop Chow on his elevation to the cardinalate, it is important for us to walk in synodality with him in order to share the mission of evangelisation of the Church.
