Latin Cardinals hint at Church's future

The Archbishop of Tegucigalpa is one of 11 new Cardinals from Latin America

By May Ying Welsh, CNN Rome bureau

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- The power and prestige of the Latin American Church has been boosted with the addition of 11 fresh faces from the “Catholic continent” to the most elite body of the Church.

The Latin Americans are among 44 prelates hand-picked by Pope John Paul II to become Cardinals in a ceremony on Wednesday.

One reason for the large number of Cardinals from Latin America is that the region is home to more than 40 percent of the world’s Catholics.

Standing out from the crowd is Rodriguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, who is considered a rising star in the Catholic Church.

He speaks seven languages, plays piano and saxophone and has been President of the Latin American regional Bishops Conference.

Vatican watchers have already anointed the Honduran prelate papabile or “popeable.”

The next time the Cardinals gather to elect a Pope, it will be the first papal election of the 3rd Christian millennium.

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“That imposes tremendous psychological pressure to be forward looking,” says John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter, “to embrace the future, which means embracing the Church of the third world.”

With religious practice on the decline in Europe and Catholic growth in the U.S. being fuelled by Hispanic immigration, many Vatican experts believe the future lies in Latin America.

“I visualise how we can inspire hope -- because we are a continent of hope,” says Archbishop Maradiaga.

“We have good priests, good bishops, and good cardinals that could one day be a Pope from Latin America,” he said.

The new Cardinals from Latin America, who are being appointed on Wednesday, are:

Antonio Jose Gonzalez Zumarraga, Archbishop of Quito Ignacio Antonio Velasco Garcia, Archbishop of Caracas Pedro Rubiano Saenz, Archbishop of Bogota Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, Archbishop of Santiago Geraldo Majella Agnelo, Archbishop of Bahia Claudio Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo Julio Terrazas Sandoval, Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima Jorge Maria Mejia of Argentina, Head of the Vatican Library.

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