22 years ago today, on February 21, 2001, St. John Paul II created Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was then the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and is now Pope Francis, as part of the first group of 43 new cardinals of the third millennium.
Years later, on April 27, 2014, Pope Francis declared St. John Paul II and St. John XXIII as saints in a historic and unprecedented ceremony that brought together four popes, including Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
During his nearly 27-year pontificate, Pope St. John Paul II created 231 cardinals. In 2001, he stated that “after having drawn abundantly from the fountains of divine mercy during the Holy Year,” the ship of the Church was preparing to “sail out to sea” again to bring the message of salvation to the world.
On that occasion, the traveling pope told the new cardinals that “the world is becoming increasingly complex and changeable, and the lively awareness of existing discrepancies produces or increases contradictions and imbalances.”
“The enormous potential of scientific and technological progress, as well as the phenomenon of globalization, which is constantly expanding into new fields, require us to be open to dialogue with every person and every social institution, in order to give everyone reason for the hope that we carry in our hearts,” he said.
“To be able to properly face the new tasks, it is necessary to cultivate an increasingly intimate communion with the Lord. The same purple color of the vestments that you wear reminds you of this urgency,” he added.
“Is not that color a symbol of passionate love for Christ? Does not that bright red indicate the burning fire of love for the Church that must nourish in you the readiness, if necessary, even to give the supreme witness of blood?” he questioned.
“By contemplating you, the people of God should be able to find a concrete and luminous reference point that encourages them to be truly the light of the world and the salt of the earth,” encouraged St. John Paul II.
