A shift by Vatican in Hispaniola as new cardinal elected

There can only be one! The Spanish part of the island, the Dominican Republic, has always held the honor of being home to a Roman Cardinal. But, after Pope Francis' recent naming of his 19 new cardinals, it is Haiti and its 'little priest that could' which now has the ear and attention of the Holy See.

Many think the denouncement of the Dominican Republic's cardinal, 77-year-old Cardinal Nicolás De Jesús López Rodríguez was due to the Pope's displeasure with his actions concerning recent topics of great publicity. López' rigid stance against gays is in contrast to the new Pope who has taken on a less homophobic approach to homosexuals. Pope Francis may also have been displeased by Cardinal López' defense of last year's high court ruling in the Dominican Republic that would strip citizenship from hundreds of thousands of Haitian-Dominicans, shown through his comments about those critics as being: "liars and charlatans."

Still, Pope Francis' decision must also have been made on the merit of the new cardinal himself. If the decision had been made only to punish Cardinal Nicolás De Jesús López Rodríguez, then a more prominent diocese, like that of Port-au-Prince, could have been chosen. The Les Cayes diocese choice of Cardinal Langlois, relatively young at 55, shows the merit of the Cardinal as well as the Pope's determination to put the underdog back at the forefront of the church.

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Read more: Religion, Pope, vatican, Pope Francis, Cardinal, Hispaniola, Haitian Cardinal, Cardinal Langlois Chibly, Chibly Langlois, Nicolás De Jesús López, Newsletter Articles, Religion

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