Historic religious appointment

Archbishop Emeritus of Castries, St Lucia, Monsignor Kelvin Edward Felix, says he is “stunned and surprised” to be have been named among 19 men from Asia, Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean in the first batch of cardinals named by Pope Francis on January 12th.  Sixteen of the appointees are younger than 80, meaning they are eligible to elect the next pope, which is a cardinal’s most important task. The Pope also named a Bishop from the Haiti among the new cardinals. The ceremony to formally install them as cardinals will be held February 22 at the Vatican. “This Pope he is concerned about the Church throughout the world in its entirety to be represented at the highest possible level. So he is looking for places of poverty, isolation and so he has appointed a Bishop of Haiti as a Cardinal and one from the West Indies for the first time. “This is unprecedented that’s why we are very much elated and surprised at the same time. I did not expect it at all. I did not have any inkling that one of the Bishops of the Caribbean would be appointed a cardinal, so you can imagine how stunned I am,” said Monsignor Felix, 80, who works out of Soufriere, east of here. “I am pleased at the same time we have been recognized as a Conference. This is the first time the Conference is having a cardinal and so I am very happy for that, it gives  a zest to the whole Church in the Caribbean and recognition to the Episcopal Conference which I have served as president for three times”. Monsignor Felix, who was ordinate a priest in 1956, said he would still be based in Dominica as cardinals “continue their pastoral journeys and they represent the Holy Father in a certain way…and to recommend certain decisions to be taken for the benefit of the people.

Courtesy: www.cananewsonline.com