A friend writes:
Archbishop Anthony Fisher has been Archbishop of Sydney for 10 years. The archdiocese has 670,000 Catholics and 129 parishes. But he still has not been made a cardinal although Sydney traditionally is a cardinalatial See.
Bishop Mykola Bychock who will be created a cardinal, is eparch of the Ukrainian Catholics in Australia, who number just 35,000 with ten parishes. He is 44 years old, and a supporter of President Zelensky
Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles has 4.4 million Catholics and 287 parishes and is not a Cardinal.
What does the Holy Father hope to accomplish by passing over Cardinals Fisher and Gomez and making this obviously political creation of a cardinal? The Kyiv Post has a possible explanation, that expediency played a part
It came as somewhat of a surprise to Ukrainians that [Archbishop Sviatoslav] Shevchuk, 10 years older than Bychok and with a vastly broader pastoral experience, would be passed over in favor of the more obscure Bychok.
Church-watchers attribute Pope Francis’ choice to a cynical expediency, in line with his decision not to directly criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin or Kirill, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church who openly supports Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Kyiv Post also points out that as of December, 111 of the 141 cardinals will have been created by Pope Francis. We may not expect much change in the Vatican, no matter his successor.
For further details, go here.
The Taos Tatler 