Let us be clear: In the Catholic Church, cardinals are supposed to have a job.
Typically, the Pope either assigns them a diocese or appoints them to a post in the Roman Curia.
Under Pope Francis, however, having a red hat is no guarantee of being given a position, at least not right away.
Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, for example, received his red hat more than a year ago. Since concluding his mandate as rector major of the Salesians in April, he has been without an assignment.
He’s not the only one. Since 2017, when his mandate as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith ended, Cardinal Gerhard Müller has no longer had an office in the Curia or a diocese. And since 2020, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who left the office of archbishop of Lyon, France, and was nevertheless acquitted in a trial for covering up abuse, has no longer been assigned to any office. He, too, has preferred to return to his original vocation, serving as a convent chaplain.
Also, Cardinal Raymond Burke has been without a job since ending his tenure as patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in 2017, when Pope Francis shook up the order by placing it under the administration of a special delegate — the then-sostituto Archbishop Angelo Becciu, who was succeeded by now-Cardinal Silvano Maria Tomasi in 2020.
Of course, the now-Cardinal Beccui is himself without a post after Pope Francis asked him to resign in the wake of allegations of financial misconduct. Later tried and convicted in the so-called “trial of the century,” he is appealing his five-and-a-half-year prison sentence — still a cardinal, but with little else on his ledger.
Lacking a full-time role does not necessarily mean a cardinal is idle. Cardinals are invited to celebrate Mass, preach at spiritual retreats and speak at conferences, for example. And they are also always available should the Pope need them for a special task. Cardinal Burke, for instance, was sent by Pope Francis to Guam in 2017 to serve as the presiding judge for a sex-abuse trial involving Archbishop Anthony Apuron.
Some of this idling of cardinals has to do with the distinctive way Francis distributes red hats — sometimes to adjust the balance of the College of Cardinals and other times to prepare the ground for a future appointment.
For some cardinals, however, patience is required.
Cardinal Artime, is rumored to be in line to become the next prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, considering that the current prefect, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, is 77 years old. But Cardinal Kevin Farrell also turned 77 and is still at the helm of the Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, raising the possibility that it may be some time yet before a change in leadership is made.
If so, Cardinal Artime’s case would be similar in some ways to that of the Conventual Franciscan Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, who, on Nov. 20, 2020, moved from the Sacred Convent of Assisi, where he was custodian, to the Sacred College. Pope Francis appointed him vicar general for the Vatican City State only three months later, on Feb. 20, 2021.
There is, however, another precedent, that of Cardinal Américo Aguiar, who was created cardinal in the consistory of Sept. 30, 2023, when he was auxiliary bishop of Lisbon. It was clear that he would receive another assignment because there was an imbalance between the non-cardinal patriarch and a cardinal auxiliary. Yet Cardinal Aguiar was appointed neither patriarch of Lisbon nor prefect of a Vatican dicastery. Instead, he was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Setúbal, which had never had a cardinal. Will this be Cardinal Artime’s fate?
Pope Francis has repeatedly used asymmetric appointments to create new situations of government. In the consistory of Feb. 14, 2014, he created Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, then archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve and vice president of the Italian bishops’ conference. It was a clear signal that he wanted Cardinal Bassetti to become president of the Italian bishops, as then happened. Creating a vice president a cardinal meant, in that case, putting pressure on the then president, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, who nevertheless continued until the end of his mandate.
Pope Francis created Archbishop Michael Czerny a cardinal in the consistory of Oct. 5, 2019. Since 2016, he has been undersecretary of the migrants and refugees section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development with now-Cardinal Fabio Baggio. The section was formally governed by Pope Francis himself temporarily. The creation of Archbishop Czerny as a cardinal created an asymmetry within the Pontifical Council: The prefect, Cardinal Peter Turkson, was a cardinal, and so was one of the two undersecretaries.
The dualism was resolved in 2021, when Pope Francis ended Cardinal Turkson’s service as prefect, first appointing Cardinal Czerny interim prefect and then confirming him. Cardinal Turkson was also out of work for a while: Having lost his post as prefect on Dec. 23, 2021, Pope Francis appointed him chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences on April 4, 2022.
The same dicastery is now experiencing dualism again. Pope Francis earlier this month created Father Fabio Baggio, who is still undersecretary of the dicastery, a cardinal. At the same time, the prefect is still Cardinal Czerny, who has reached 78 years of age and will soon retire.
Is this a sign that Pope Francis has already designated the newly elevated Cardinal Baggio as the new prefect?
We must wait, as well, to see who goes where.
