by Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan S.J.
It was around 6:16 p.m. on July 9 and I was just beginning to enjoy dinner with my family when I received a WhatsApp message from a friend and reporter based in Rome saying, “WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING NAMED CARDINAL….” I replied immediately, “Is this a mistake?” I thought he must have erroneously sent this message to me. But then he replied two minutes later, “No Pope just announced names of 21 new cardinals 18 are electors.” Then a few more congratulatory messages were rushed to me, with a tone of disbelief.
You can imagine how much I have found this experience incredible, exciting, but surreal. As I frantically replied to a series of messages, I was trying to figure out what and how the announcement was made, which pretty much threw my dinner into chaos. My family was just there accompanying me while gently reminding me to eat some. I must say that I really appreciate their accompaniment in this way. Just being there, no fuss, just letting me know that they were there with me. Thank you!
People at different occasions have told me that starting from Cardinal Wu, all the bishops of the Diocese except for Bishop Yeung’s untimely passing, have been named cardinals. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect to follow suit. Well, that might be so, and it happened to be so. Yet, the Holy Father is not obliged to follow any track records in his appointment of cardinals. Since Pope Francis is known for his discernment and following freely the lead of the Holy Spirit, it would be unwise for me to hold expectations based on past papal practices.
If we are to start our discernment with the absoluteness of traditional or conventional practices, we will not be free to listen and discern from the Holy Spirit. Instead, we will listen selectively to what we want to hear, or what we already believe in. By doing so, we want to contain the Spirit within our acceptable frameworks. Then how is the Spirit going to renew the Church or our lives?
As a cardinal, according to the mandate of Pope Francis issued on July 9, I am missioned to assist the Holy Father in realizing “the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim the merciful love of God to all people of the earth.” It is a new mandate, besides the usual mission of strengthening the bond between the See of Peter and the local Churches spread throughout the world.
While the usual mission is important, the new mission to proclaim God’s merciful love is particularly meaningful to me. This one is aligned with Pope Francis’ pastoral focus since the early days of his papacy. Remember the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy that took place from late 2015 to 2016? It empowered our Church to celebrate God’s identity and our core mission throughout the world.
With this new mission, Pope Francis reminds that, celebrating God’s merciful love in our faith community and communicating it to the world should not be the favor of the year. Instead, it should be the core practice of who we are as Church.
I understand several prelates have expressed concern that focusing solely on merciful love alone may mislead Catholics into believing that there is no need for moral discipline in Christian life. While I can appreciate their concern, I believe that our world, including many wounded Catholics, need to be first treated with the medicine of merciful love to stop the bleeding or further deterioration. Only after that we can posit ourselves in a positive and secure relationship with the injured parties, so to engage in impactful conversations about good and moral living with them.
Finally, I would appreciate your prayers for me, to be blessed with the required inner disposition and the capacity to carry out the different missions that Pope Francis intends for his cardinals.
+ Stephen Chow, SJ
