Pope Francis to appoint new cardinals who will elect his successor

(Patria) - Pope Francis said on Sunday he would appoint 21 new cardinals from around the world at the end of September, as he seeks to leave his mark on the papacy, AFP reported.

The upcoming assembly of cardinals, scheduled for September 30 and known as a consistory, will be the ninth for Pope Francis (86), who became pope a decade ago and seeks to leave a lasting mark on the institution.

"Their origin expresses the universality of the Church which continues to announce the merciful love of God to all people on earth," the pope said, after the Sunday Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace in St. Peter's Square.

Francis's new choices are closely watched as an indicator of the future direction of the Catholic Church and its priorities for its 1.3 billion faithful.

All cardinals under the age of 80, including 18 from the group named on Sunday, are known as "cardinal electors," who will participate in the vote to appoint Pope Francis's successor. After the consistory at the end of September, there will be 137 cardinal electors, about three-quarters of whom will have been appointed by Francis.

Since becoming pope, Francis has sought to elevate clergy from developing countries far from Rome to the highest ranks of the Church, as part of his overall philosophy of diversity and inclusion. The names Francis announced on Sunday include clergy in regions where Christianity is growing, such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Among the archbishops who will become cardinals are those of Juba in South Sudan, Cape Town in South Africa, and Tabora in Tanzania.

The list also includes Bishop of Penang in Malaysia and Hong Kong, Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, who holds a doctorate in psychology from Harvard and who will be key in improving the Church's ties with Communist China. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the highest Catholic in the Holy Land, Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa, whose archdiocese covers Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus, will also be appointed.