During the ceremony at the Basilica of San Pedro, in the Vatican, the Supreme Pontiff imposed the red cap on Monsignor Adalberto Martínez Flores, Metropolitan Archbishop of Asunción, in Paraguay, the first cardinal in the history of that nation.

Among the new cardinals are also Monsignor Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, as well as Brazilians Leonardo Ulrich Steiner, Archbishop of Manaus, and Paulo Cezar Costa, Metropolitan Archbishop of Brasilia.

Robert W. McElroy, Bishop of San Diego, the United States, received the red cap, while Jean-Marc Avelin, Archbishop of Marseille, was ordained from Europe, as well as Italians Oscar Cantoni, Bishop of Como and Arrigo Miglio, Archbishop Emeritus of Cagliari.

Priests from Africa include Peter Ebere Okpaleke, Bishop of Ekwulobia, Nigeria, and Richard Kuuia Baawobr, Archbishop of Wa, Ghana.

Ásia will feature new Cardinals Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário, Archbishop of Goa and Damao, India; Virgilio do Carmo da Silva; Archbishop of East Timor; Anthony Poola, Archbishop of Hyderabad, India and William Seng Chye Goh; Archbishop of Singapore.

The youngest member of the College of Cardinals will be Giorgio Marengo, 48, a Consolata missionary and apostolic prefect of Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia.

They also include Arthur Roche, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship; Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, president of the Pontifical Commission for the State and Governance of the Vatican.

Completing the list are Gianfranco Ghirlanda, former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, and Monsignor Fortunato Frezza, canon of Saint Peter.

Francis pronounced the formula for the creation of the cardinals, including 16 under eighty years of age, who may therefore be electors in a future conclave.

These swore fidelity and obedience to the Pope and his successors, after which they were given the red skullcap, mortarboard, ring, as well as the bull with the assignment of the title.

On Tuesday, August 30, the highest representative of the Catholic Church will preside, in the Vatican Basilica, at the Eucharistic celebration with the new cardinals and the College of Cardinals.

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