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VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis announced Sunday that he will create 21 new cardinals at a consistory in August, elevating clerics from 16 countries around the world.
The pontiff’s choices include the dissident Bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy – who has supported female ordination and allowing Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians.
The Pope also announced that the anti-tradition Vatican liturgy head Archbishop Arthur Roche and pro-LGBT Archbishop Leonardo U. Steiner of Manaus, Brazil will be among those receiving the red hat.
Following the recitation of the Regina Caeli on Sunday at St. Peter’s Square, the Pope revealed that he “will hold a Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals” on August 27.
“Let us pray that they will help me in my mission as Bishop of Rome for the good of all God’s people,” Francis said.
Bishop Robert McElroy (right) is to be made a cardinal in August, despite his inaction on allegations against notorious ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
We all have a responsibility to speak up when serious wrongs are being brought to our attention, but McElroy didn't.
SIGN this petition to demand Pope Francis not reward a bishop who failed to report allegations against McCarrick
The Bishop of San Diego was told about serious sexual wrongdoing by McCarrick in 2016 when psychotherapist Richard Sipe, who had interviewed numerous victims of McCarrick, sent him a detailed letter, but McElroy sat on that information and is now being made a cardinal.
Appointing him to the College of Cardinals is not only an insult to those who suffered clerical sex-abuse, but also to those who are intent on ridding the Church of such evil.
This decision to make McElroy a cardinal must be reversed, and the only way to make that happen is with pressure from the laity.
SIGN and SHARE this petition to stop the appointment of Bishop McElroy to the College of Cardinals
Sipe told McElory that numerous seminarians and priests reported sexual advances and activity by McCarrick in a letter that also detailed extensive abuse by other clerics.
"I have interviewed twelve seminarians and priests who attest to propositions, harassment, or sex with McCarrick," the psychotherapist told McElroy in the 2016 letter, adding: "None so far has found the ability to speak openly at the risk of reputation and retaliation."
McElroy, who claims there was no corroborating evidence, could have brought the allegations to the pope, or even to the Papal Nuncio, but instead ended the correspondence with Sipe, himself a clerical sex-abuse victim.
It would take another year for the truth about McCarrick to slowly emerge in public.
SIGN the petition to stop Bishop McElroy being elevated to the College of Cardinals
Turning a blind eye to serious allegations of sexual wrongdoing is reprehensible in any context, but particularly when a bishop, a shepherd of souls, does so.
He also supports giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, contrary to the Church's teaching, while he has concelebrated LGBT Masses as bishop and claimed Fr. James Martin's attempt to normalize the LGBT ideology is "fully consonant with Catholic teaching".
The sad truth is that McElroy is not fit to continue as a bishop, let alone become a cardinal.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition to stop the rot that continues to tarnish Christ's Church.
We must do what we can to clean up this mess now.
More Information:
Bishop McElroy was warned about McCarrick - LifeSiteNews
Pope announces 21 new cardinals, including McElroy - LifeSiteNews
Photo: Theodore McCarrick and Bishop Robert McElroy (Lisa Bourne/LifeSiteNews & Diocese of San Diego/YouTube)
Among the 21 men to be given the red hat on August 27, 16 are cardinal-electors eligible to vote in a future papal conclave as they are yet under 80 years-of-age. They include the following:
- Archbishop Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
- Bishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik of Daejeon, South Korea, Prefect for the Congregation for Clergy.
- Bishop Fernando Vergez Alzaga, President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.
- Archbishop Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France.
- Archbishop Peter Okpaleke of Ekwulobia, Nigeria.
- Archbishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner of Manaus, Brazil.
- Archbishop Filipe Neri António Sebastião of Rosário Ferrão of Goa e Damão, India.
- Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego.
- Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo Da Silva of Dili, East Timor.
- Bishop Oscar Cantoni of Como, Italy.
- Archbishop Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, India.
- Archbishop Paulo Cezar Costa of Brasília, Brazil.
- Bishop Richard Kuuia Baawobr M. Afr of Wa, Ghana.
- Archbishop William Goh Seng Chye of Singapore.
- Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores of Asunción, Paraguay.
- Archbishop Giorgio Marengo, Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The five remaining cardinals-elect are over 80 years old and will therefore not be eligible to vote in any future conclave; however, they serve an important advisory role. They are:
- Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena, Colombia.
- Archbishop Lucas Van Looy, S.D.B, Archbishop Emeritus of Ghent, Belgium.
- Archbishop Arrigo Miglio, Archbishop Emeritus of Cagliari, Italy.
- Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
- Monsignor Fortunato Frezza, Canon of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Following Sunday’s announcement, the Pope faced criticism over some of the men he has chosen to elevate as Princes of the Church, including allies such as Bishop Robert McElroy and the anti-tradition Vatican liturgy head Archbishop Arthur Roche.
McElroy has firmly opposed refusing Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who promote abortion, calling any such ban a “political weapon” which is being used to “assault … unity” and ultimately describing moves to exclude “pro-choice” political leaders from Communion as “the wrong step.”
His appointment to the College of Cardinals comes just days after San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone banned Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from receiving the Eucharist over her ardent support of abortion.
The prelate has also been an outspoken supporter of “LGBT” ideology, defending pro-homosexual Jesuit Father James Martin and his book Building a Bridge as “fully consonant with Catholic teaching,” despite demands therein that the Church change its stance on “LGBT” issues.
Taking to Twitter, Father Ryan Hildebrand described McElroy’s appointment as “a scandal,” especially in light of the prelate’s alleged knowledge of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s criminal abuses.
If you needed proof that Rome doesn’t care about real moral reform among the clergy, here it is.
We have documented proof that +McElroy knew about +Nienstedt and McCarrick, yet he did nothing with the info. A scandal that he gets a red hat. https://t.co/XbJeGQFUP5
— Fr. Ryan Hilderbrand (@FrHilderbrand) May 29, 2022
This cannot be overstated. Francis giving McElroy (who has been proven to have known about McCarrick) the red hat means that Rome’s lip service to clerical reform has been meaningless words, nothing more.
A punch in the face to all young priests trying to fix the wreckage. https://t.co/DUSJSVAo8T
— LB236 (@thelb236) May 29, 2022
Matt Gaspers, managing editor of Catholic Family News, noted that, aside from McElroy’s questionable record, his elevation as a lower ranking suffragan bishop over his own metropolitan Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles “is ridiculous.”
San Diego is a suffragan diocese under Los Angeles. It’s absurd for a suffragan bishop (McElroy) to be elevated above his own metropolitan archbishop (Gomez).
Even aside from McElroy’s heterodoxy, his elevation to the Cardinalate is ridiculous. https://t.co/HMtgzZuyDo
— Matt Gaspers (@MattGaspers) May 29, 2022
Opprobrium likewise poured in regarding the elevation of Roche, who presides over the Vatican’s the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
Popular British author Deacon Nick Donnelly said that the appointment of Roche, described by Catholic traditional blog Rorate Caeli as “the great persecutor of traditional Catholics,” indicates “the depths to which the papacy has sunk.”
A further indication of the depths to which the papacy has sunk
That Arthur Roche has been elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals pic.twitter.com/lH765vv4cj
— Nick Donnelly (@ProtecttheFaith) May 29, 2022
Inept, incompetent, sycophantic ideologue. Not good for the Church! https://t.co/MwwAU64rKh
— Mark 🇺🇦 (@sitsio) May 29, 2022
As things stand, the College of Cardinals has 208 members, and 117 of them have voting rights. Pope Francis has already created 101 cardinals at seven consistories throughout his 9-year-long papacy. Francis has appointed 67 of the 117 cardinals currently eligible to vote in conclave – over 57 percent.
