Vatican City - “The College of Cardinals is called to resemble a symphony orchestra, representing the harmony and synodality of the Church.” Pope Francis made this remark as he presided on Saturday at the Consistory for the creation of 21 Cardinals in St. Peter's Square.

Diversity in the Catholic Church
In his homily delivered to the College of Cardinals, the Holy Father reflected on a passage from the Acts of the Apostles. The passage reflecting the Pentecost event, during which the Apostles were granted the remarkable gift of speaking in various languages, enabling them to effectively convey the Gospel to Jews from diverse national backgrounds who had gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2, 1-11).

Receiving the Gospel in One’s Native Tongue
Pope Francis emphasized a striking parallel between the Jews of various nationalities who heard the Apostles' preaching and the contemporary Bishops and Cardinals who hail "from all parts of the world, from the most diverse nations."

From this perspective, Pope Francis highlighted that the Pentecost narrative should prompt us to reflect with gratitude on the privilege of being evangelized and drawn into the faith from various ethnic backgrounds. Each of us, in our own time, has received the Kerygma—the proclamation of the mystery of salvation—in our own language. Through this reception and our baptism in the Holy Spirit, we have become part of the Church, which transcends linguistic barriers and remains One and Catholic.

“In the ‘flesh’ of our people, the Holy Spirit has worked the wonder of communicating the mystery of Jesus Christ who died and rose again. And this came to us ‘in our language’ (…). The faith is transmitted ‘in dialect’ by mothers and grandmothers.”

The Pope further underscored that, before assuming roles as "apostles," priests, Bishops, or Cardinals, individuals should remember that, like those Jews, they too are "Parthians, Medes, Elamites, etc." They should be thankful for having received the grace of the Gospel within their respective native communities and languages, handed down through generations by grandparents, parents, catechists, priests, and religious.

Evangelized evangelizers, not functionaries
“Indeed - the Pope said - we are evangelizers to the extent we cherish in our hearts the wonder and gratitude of having been evangelized, even of being evangelized, because this is really a gift always present, that must be continually renewed in our memories and in faith, because, he emphasized, "We are evangelized evangelizers, non-functionaries".