Pope Francis appointed, this Saturday afternoon (7), at the Vatican, 21 new cardinals, including the Brazilian Dom Jaime Spengler, current archbishop of Porto Alegre and president of the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) and the Episcopal Council Latin American and Caribbean (Celam).
Representatives from Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Japan, the Philippines, Serbia, Ivory Coast and Algeria were also nominated.
With this, the College of Cardinals now consists of 256 members, of which 141, under the age of 80, are voters and able to vote in a possible conclave to choose the next pope.
Born in Gaspar, in Santa Catarina, Dom Jaime Spengler is 64 years old and is a Franciscan. With constant attention to ecology and the climate crisis, Dom Jaime is the second archbishop of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul to be appointed to the cardinalate. The first was Dom Vicente Scherer, who died in 1996, aged 93.
Before joining the priesthood, Dom Jaime worked for five years in the textile industry, holding positions of responsibility.
