In naming 17 new cardinals in October, 2016, Pope Francis
moved closer to putting his stamp on the sort of cleric who would follow him as
pontiff. Similar to a U.S. president’s power to nominate justices to the U.S.
Supreme Court, a pope’s power to appoint cardinals who presumably can vote in
the next concave is decisive in terms of leaving a legacy. With the additional
cardinals, Francis had appointed 40 percent of the cardinals who could vote in
the next conclave. The fact that cardinals tend to be old suggests, however,
that any lasting legacy would not be long lasting. I submit that the cardinals’
typical age and even other qualities suggest that the rubric a pope uses in
selecting clerics for the red hat says a lot about how the pope approaches
Christianity.
The full essay is at "Christian Leadership."
