25 Cardinals From 18 Nations Named by Pope

Pope John Paul II on Sunday named 25 new cardinals from 18 countries, including prelates from Lithuania and Hong Kong in a move to bolster the Roman Catholic Church in the Soviet Union and in China, after it assumes control of Hong Kong in 1997.

Two Americans, Archbishops James A. Hickey of Washington, D.C., and Edmund C. Szoka of Detroit, were on the list.

Archbishop Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, 52, was considered for promotion but was passed over in what Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro acknowledged was a “great exclusion” for the American church. The spokesman said that Mahony was not included because of his comparatively youthful age and is likely to be selected later.

Now 9 U.S. Cardinals

The two U.S. appointments bring to nine the number of American cardinals.

The new cardinals, who will be formally elevated at a June 28 Vatican session, bring the number of cardinals to 161.

The choices will leave the pontiff’s stamp on the church into the next century.

The most significant new name was that of Bishop Vincentas Sladkevicius, the 67-year-old apostolic administrator for the diocese of Kaisiadorys in Soviet Lithuania.

Four new cardinals come from Italy, two each from the United States, Brazil, Spain and India, and one each from Canada, Mozambique, Colombia, Australia, Hungary, Cameroon, Austria, France, West Germany, Mauritius, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Lithuania.

Archbishop Paul Gregoire, 76, of Montreal is the Canadian.

Pope’s Favorite Theologian

The new cardinals include several conservatives and the man sometimes referred to as the Polish-born pontiff’s favorite Roman Catholic theologian, Swiss priest Hans Urs von Balthasar, the only non-bishop to be named.

In Washington, Hickey, 67, said in a statement that he was “truly honored, very humbled and deeply grateful” to be chosen. He said he would work with “all those of good will . . . to build a more just and caring community.”

Szoka, 60, told a news conference in Detroit that he’s “deeply moved and honored” and will “carry on the same functions whether I’m cardinal or not.”

In announcing the appointments at the end of a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, John Paul noted that the new cardinals come from every continent, reflecting the “universality” of the church’s 860 million followers.

Most of the new appointees were heads of large dioceses or Vatican departments traditionally held by cardinals.

Significant Promotions

Vatican officials described as especially significant the naming of cardinals for Lithuania and Hong Kong, a British colony that will be transferred to Communist Chinese rule in 1997.

“These were courageous appointments,” Vatican spokesman Navarro told reporters. “These are not symbolic choices but options for the future.”

From 1963 to 1982, Sladkevicius, the Lithuanian, was “impeded” by Soviet authorities from performing his religious duties and was virtually confined to his residence, according to the Vatican.

He becomes the second resident cardinal in the Soviet Union. Julijans Vaivods, 92, of Latvia was elevated by John Paul in 1983.

Sladkevicius becomes the Soviet Union’s first cardinal elector, or cardinal eligible to elect the next Pope.

John Paul moved to bolster the church in the China of the future by elevating John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung, the 63-year-old bishop of Hong Kong. There has been no resident cardinal in China since the Communists took over in 1949.

China cut ties with the Vatican in 1957 and established a breakaway Catholic church, which claims 3 million members.

An unknown number of other Catholics in China remain secretly loyal to the Pope, and several have been imprisoned for their religious practices.

The appointments will swell to the maximum 120 the number of cardinals under the age of 80 who are eligible under church law to enter a conclave after the death of the Pope, now aged 68, to elect a successor from their ranks.

John Paul has created 85 of the current 161 cardinals, more than the combined total of those elevated by his three immediate predecessors.

Cardinals, the red-hatted “princes of the church,” are the Pope’s closest advisers in the administration of the church around the world. In addition to voting in a papal conclave, they advise the Pope, serve on special Vatican commissions and act as spokesmen for the church in their countries.