Just as a fasting man doesn’t let on that he is fasting, Pope Francis didn’t even hint who would be on his list of 21 new cardinals of the Catholic Church. When he made the announcement from his window above St. Peter’s Square, many of the cardinals-to-be were caught by surprise.
Cardinal-elect Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, recounted to Vatican News how he learned that he had been elevated.
His day started with a 9:00 a.m. car ride to the headquarters of the Society of the Divine Word, where he was to celebrate Mass, at 10:00 a.m. He noted that the Mass was celebrated by a crowd of priests, as there are many in Rome for the Synod.
When the Mass had concluded, he stayed for tea and returned to his accommodations, which are located just outside of St. Peter’s. While he was walking down the cloister of St. Peter’s, he heard a voice call out to him in congratulations, which he recalled feeling perplexed about. When he turned, he recognized a young man who spent a lot of time outside of the Synod hall with pictures of bishops, hoping to get their autographs.
The young man informed Archbishop Kikuchi that he had just been named a cardinal by the Pope, but this was pretty much shrugged off by Kikuchi:
“I had never heard anything like that, so I wondered what kind of joke he was making, and headed to my accommodation through the large crowd of people returning from Angelus.”
He had just barely entered the lobby of his accommodations when Cardinal Rueda of Bogota stopped him to offer his congratulations as well. Sure that this was some sort of elaborate prank, Archbishop Kikuchi expressed how he was skeptical, but Cardinal Rueda showed him a video of the announcement:
“I was surprised. It had been a long time since I was so shocked from the bottom of my heart. And I was confused. When I think about the fact that being a cardinal is not just an honorary position, but that there are many roles to play as an advisor to the Pope, I can only see my own shortcomings.”
Read more from Cardinal-elect Kikuchi at Vatican News.
