Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, of Algiers (Algeria), Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto (Canada) and Brother Timothy Radcliffe, OP, are among the 21 new cardinals to be created by Pope Francis at the Consistory to be held on December 8, as he announced on Sunday, October 6, after praying the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square.
Mgr Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, was born in Lyon (France) in 1962. He joined the Order of Preachers in 1995, after studying law and working as a lawyer. He was ordained a priest in 2001. His first contact with Algeria came a year later, when he moved to the Dominican convent in Tlemcen, in the diocese of Oran. In 2005, he was appointed vicar general, then bursar in 2007. He returned to France at the end of 2010 when he was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of France. He held this position for a few months, before being appointed Bishop of Oran by Benedict XVI on December 1, 2012. On December 8, 2018, Bishop Vesco welcomed to his diocese the beatification of the 19 martyrs of Algeria, including Mgr Pierre Claverie, former bishop of Oran, killed in 1996, and the monks of Tibhirine. Mgr Vesco took part in the Synod on the Family held at the Vatican in 2015. On December 27, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him metropolitan archbishop of Algiers (Algeria). In 2023, by presidential decree, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, granted him Algerian nationality.
Mgr Francis Leo, a member of the Saint-Dominique priestly fraternities, was born in Montreal (Canada) in 1971. He was ordained a priest in 1996. He has held various positions in teaching and parish ministry, as a seminary formator, in judicial ministry, in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, as General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Montreal. He entered the Dominican Third Order on November 18, 2007 in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, while in formation at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He then made his profession in the priestly fraternities of Saint Dominic on May 11, 2008 in the same Italian Dominican convent. In what might be a fitting tribute to his link with the Dominicans, he quotes the motto of the Order of Preachers as expressed in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas: “As it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so it is better to share with others the truths contemplated than merely to contemplate them”. On July 16, 2022, he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal by Pope Francis, who on February 11, 2023 appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto.
Brother Timothy Radcliffe, OP, was born in London in 1945. He joined the Order of Preachers in 1965. He was ordained a priest in 1971. After studying at Oxford and Paris, he taught Scripture at Oxford University and at the Dominican center known as Blackfriars Hall. From 1982 to 1988, he was prior of the Oxford convent. He was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of England in 1987 and Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. An internationally renowned speaker, preacher, writer and theologian, he has received honorary degrees from Oxford University and other academic institutions in France, Italy and the United States. In 2007, he was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for his writings in theology. In 2023, Pope Francis commissioned him to preach the preparatory retreat for bishops from around the world taking part in the synod on synodality. This year, he was also asked to lead the preparatory retreat for the second session of the Synod. The meditations of fr. Timothy were published by the official Vatican media.
The Dominican family welcomes the consistory’s announcement of the appointment of the new cardinals, whose “origin expresses the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all the peoples of the earth”, and whose inclusion “in the diocese of Rome manifests, moreover, the indissoluble bond between the See of Peter and the particular Churches scattered throughout the world”, as Pope Francis emphasized when he asked for prayers for the new cardinals, so that, “confirming their attachment to Christ, the merciful and faithful High Priest”, they may assist him “in the ministry of Bishop of Rome for the good of all the holy people of God”. We join in the prayers for the new cardinals and commend the ministry and mission of our brothers to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary and our Father Saint Dominic.
By Yves Bériault
By Laurent Fortin