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The Pope has appointed 21 new cardinals, from Iran to Japan. There are also four Italians, three of whom are electors - Archbishop of Turin Roberto Repole, the new Vicar of Rome Baldassarre Reina, Fabio Baggio of the dicastery for migrants - and Angelo Acerbi, 99, for more than 50 nuncio to the Vatican. The future conclave will increasingly reflect a Church that is global and turned to the peripheries of the planet, less Eurocentric and Western. Voters will become 141, above the threshold of 120 established by Paul VI, but between the end of the year and 2025 14 will turn 80 and no longer be able to vote. Five Asians, five Latin Americans, six Europeans, two Africans, one North American (Canadian: no Americans), one from Oceania. The very provenance of the 20 new electors "expresses the universality of the Church that continues to proclaim God's merciful love to the whole Earth," Francis explained at the Angelus, on the day he called for "an immediate ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon". Among the new cardinals are Tehran's Belgian Dominique Mathieu, Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, and Mykola Bychok, a Ukrainian of Greek Catholic rite in Melbourne, Australia, who is only 44 years old and becomes the youngest cardinal.
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