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KUCHING, July 10: The bishop of Penang, Sebastian Francis, 71, was appointed to the high rank of cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis yesterday.
According to a report by news portal Free Malaysia Today, he is among 21 churchmen appointed as new cardinals who will become eligible to vote for a new pope to succeed the incumbent Pope Francis, 86, after his death or resignation.
Johor Bahru-born Francis studied at the minor seminary in Singapore and the College-General in Penang before becoming a priest in the Melaka-Johor diocese in 1977.
According to Vatican News, Bishop Sebastian Francis was born in Johor Bahru on Nov 11, 1951.
After completing his studies in Philosophy and Theology at the Major Seminary in Penang, he was ordained a priest for the diocese of Malacca-Johor on July 28, 1977.
After several assignments, he studied in Rome, receiving a licentiate in Dogmatic Theology from the Angelicum.
After several other pastoral assignments, he received a Law degree in 1991 and subsequently went to Maryknoll School of Theology in New York.
On July 7, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as Bishop of Penang, and he was ordained on August 20 with 10,000 Catholics in attendance. Since Jan 1, 2017, he has been president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
The Penang bishop is the second from the diocese to be made a cardinal after the late Anthony Soter Fernandez, appointed by Pope Francis in 2016.
The Vatican announced that the new cardinals appointed by the pope come from countries including the United States, Italy, Argentina, Switzerland, South Africa, Spain, Colombia, South Sudan, Hong Kong, Poland, Malaysia, Tanzania, and Portugal.
Eighteen of the 21 are under 80 and will be able to enter an eventual secret conclave to choose the next pope. They are known as cardinal electors.
The ceremony to install the new cardinals, known as a consistory, will be held on Sept 30. After the September consistory, there will be 137 cardinal electors, about 73 per cent chosen by Pope Francis.
Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers. — DayakDaily
