Why cardinals get Roman churches: Understanding Pope Francis’ use of titular parishes

Vatican City, Dec 10, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

On Dec. 7, in the 10th consistory of his pontificate, Pope Francis created 21 new cardinals. In addition to giving each new cardinal a scarlet zucchetto and biretta, and the traditional cardinalatial ring, the Holy Father assigned to each new cardinal a church of Rome — either a presbyteral title or deaconry — as a sign of the pontiff’s pastoral solicitude over the city and in keeping with the very old custom that cardinals are considered titular or honorary members of the clergy of Rome. 

In doing so, Francis also continued a trend of establishing new titular churches — nine this time — from among the more than 900 churches in the Diocese of Rome.

At the time of their official entry into the College of Cardinals, both cardinal priests and cardinal deacons are assigned a titular church in Rome, although the cardinals have no rights of governance over their titular church and may not interfere in its proper administration.

Instead, they may assist their church with counsel, financial support, or some other form of patronage. Cardinals take formal possession of their church after they become cardinals in a consistory, and they might visit their church, hear confessions, say Mass there, and even lead pilgrimages in coordination with the church or parish staff.

There are two types of titular churches (Italian, “titoli cardinalizi”) for cardinals: titles and deaconries. A title (Latin, “titulus,” Italian, “titolo”) is typically assigned to cardinal priests and a deaconry (Latin and Italian, “diaconia”) is assigned to cardinal deacons.

By custom, each cardinal is appointed to a rank within the college: cardinal bishop, cardinal priest, or cardinal deacon. Each cardinal receives a titular church according to the rank he possesses. Cardinal bishops are the most senior members of the college, hold the most important offices in the Roman Curia, or are Eastern patriarchs. With the exception of the patriarchs, cardinal bishops receive the title of one of the suburbicarian sees surrounding Rome. 

The largest group of cardinals are those belonging to the second rank — cardinal priests. They are mostly bishops and archbishops who head dioceses and archdioceses all over the world (such as New York, Tokyo, or Madrid) or officials of long service in the Roman Curia who have chosen to be promoted from the ranks of cardinal deacons after 10 years. 

Cardinal deacons are primarily officials of the Roman Curia and other priests and bishops who are honored for their service to the Church with elevation to the cardinalate. 

If, however, a cardinal deacon moves from the ranks of the cardinal deacons to cardinal priests he will customarily receive a new title appropriate for a cardinal priest or possibly request that his deaconry be elevated to a title for the time he holds it. Should a cardinal priest be elevated to the rank of cardinal bishop, he will customarily receive a title to a suburbicarian see.

With the creation of the 21 new cardinals, Pope Francis assigned each a new title or deaconry. The list of new cardinals and their titular churches is as follows:

• Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, former nuncio: Ss. Angeli Custodi a Città Giardino (deaconry)

• Cardinal Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio of Lima, Peru: S. Maria delle Grazie a Casal Boccone (title)

• Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic, CM, of Santiago del Estero, Argentina: S. Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio (title)

• Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera, OFM, of Guayaquil, Ecuador: Sacra Famiglia di Nazareth a Centocelle (title)

• Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib of Santiago, Chile: S. Mauro Abate (title)

• Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, SVD, of Tokyo: S. Giovanni Leonardi (title)

• Cardinal Pablo Virgilio Siongco David of Kalookan, Philippines: Trasfigurazione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo (title)

• Cardinal Ladislav Nemet, SVD, of Belgrade, Serbia: S. Maria Stella Maris (title)

• Cardinal Jaime Spengler, OFM, of Porto Alegre, Brazil: S. Gregorio Magno alla Magliana Nuova (title)

• Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo of Abidjan, Ivory Coast: Ss. Mario e Compagni Martiri (title)

• Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, of Algiers, Algeria: S. Cuore di Gesù agonizzante a Vitinia (title)

• Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, of Tehran and Isfahan, Iran: S. Giovanna Antida Thouret (title)

• Cardinal Roberto Repole of Turin, Italy: Gesù Divino Maestro alla Pineta Sacchetti (title)

• Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar for the Diocese of Rome: S. Maria Assunta e S. Giuseppe a Primavalle (title)

• Cardinal Francis Leo of Toronto: S. Maria della Salute a Primavalle (title)

• Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major: S. Eustachio (deaconry)

• Cardinal Mykola Bychok, CSSR, Eparch of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians (Ukrainian bishop in Australia) Australia: S. Sofia a Via Boccea (title)

• Cardinal Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, theologian: Ss. Nomi di Gesù e Maria in via Lata (deaconry)

• Cardinal Father Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary and head of the section for migrants and refugees at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development: S. Filippo Neri in Eurosia (deaconry)

• Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, organizer of papal trips: Diaconia S. Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia (deaconry)

• Cardinal Domenico Battaglia, archbishop of Naples: San Marco in Agro Laurentino (title)

Normally, new cardinals are appointed to titular churches that had fallen vacant either by the death or transfer of the previous holder. At the time of the consistory on Dec. 7, there were 12 vacant titles and nine vacant deaconries. Francis filled seven of the vacant titles and five of the vacant deaconries. The remaining nine were entirely new, constituted on the very day of the consistory by Pope Francis, marking the continuation of a trend of the last years. 

It must be remembered, of course, that the pope does not have to assign cardinals to vacant presbyteral titles and deaconries; he is entirely free to institute new ones, and that is what he chose to do again for this consistory.

In the last consistory, for example, in 2023, the pope established seven new titles for cardinal priests: St. Bernadette Soubiros to Cardinal Angel Sixto Rossi, archbishop of Cordoba; Santi Cirillo e Metodio to Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, archbishop of Lodz; Santa Gemma Galgani to Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla, archbishop of Juba; Santa Maria in Montesanto to Cardinal Protase Rugambwa, archbishop of Tabora; Santa Maria Causa Nostrae Letitiae to Cardinal Sebastan Francis, bishop of Penang; San Giovanni Battista de La Salle to Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, bishop of Hong Kong; and San Gaetano to Cardinal Diego Rafael Padron Sanchez, archbishop Emeritus of Cumaná.

At the same time, the Holy Father instituted two new deaconries: Santa Monica in Ostia and Sant’Ambrogio della Massima, assigning them to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, and Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, respectively.

For his 10th consistory, Francis assigned nine new titles: S. Maria delle Grazie a Casal Boccone to Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio; S. Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio to Cardinal Vicente Bokalic Iglic; Sacra Famiglia di Nazareth a Centocelle to Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera; S. Mauro Abate to Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib; S. Giovanni Leonardi to Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi; S. Maria Stella Maris to Cardinal Ladislav Nemet; Ss. Mario e Compagni Martiri to Cardinal Ignace Bessi Dogbo; S. Giovanni Antida Thouret to Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu; and S. Maria Assunta e St. Giuseppe a Primavalle to Cardinal Baldassare Reina.  

Most of the new titular churches are situated in the suburban municipalities that ring the center of Rome, while Santa Maria Stella Maris is all the way out in Ostia on the coast. 

Francis clearly wants his new cardinals to have their churches in every corner of the sprawling Roman diocese. 

To drive this point home, only one new title, Santa Maria Maddalena in Campo Marzio, is located in the historic center of the Eternal City, and he deliberately left unfilled several very prominent but currently vacant titles, including the truly historic Basilica of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill, which has been vacant since 2022. 

In total, since the beginning of his pontificate and in 10 different consistories Pope Francis has instituted 41 new presbyteral titles and four new diaconal titles. To date, there are 184 existing presbyteral titles and 71 deaconries.

Using AI, the Vatican recently launched a digital “dashboard” of the College of Cardinals. Users can sort the cardinals by age, country of origin, electoral status, and religious order.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/260939/pope-francis-creates-nine-tititular-churches-for-newest-cardinals