A catholic bishop from Melbourne has become Australia’s highest ranking catholic, after Pope Francis elevated him to position of cardinal during a grand ceremony at the Vatican. At the age of 44, Ukrainian-born missionary Mykola Bychok is the youngest member of the college of cardinals, and Australia’s first cardinal since the death of George Pell.
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00:00Inside St Peter's Basilica here at the Vatican behind me, the Pope has created 21 new Cardinals,
00:10and among them, Mikola Beczok from Australia.
00:13The Ukrainian-born missionary has been living in Melbourne for the past four years.
00:17At 44, he becomes the youngest member of the College of Cardinals and Australia's highest
00:24ranking Catholic.
00:25I spoke to him before the Consistory Ceremony and he said that he was very surprised to
00:30have been chosen, but very honoured too.
00:33You can see that he was warmly welcomed by the other members of the College of Cardinals,
00:38as well as Pope Francis himself.
00:40The two shared a moment during the service where the Pope also spoke to him in Ukrainian.
00:46Afterwards Cardinal Beczok told me what the day has meant to him.
00:50It's a little bit mixed, my feelings.
00:53On the one hand, I'm completely in peace, in the hands of God, but on the other hand,
01:00I'm worried about what is going on in Ukraine, because it's still a terrible war, many people
01:07are dying, Russia is still killing our people, we can say genocide of our people.
01:15In the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the Cardinals are the next most senior members
01:20after the Pope, and the College of Cardinals is like an inner council for the Pope advising
01:25him on how to run the Church worldwide.
01:28The selection of Cardinal Beczok has come as a surprise, but Vatican observers have
01:32told me that that's because Pope Francis likes to choose people from all corners of the globe
01:37and from the periphery, people who are deeply embedded in their communities, and he's also
01:42of a generation of Church leaders who are not linked to the sex scandals of the past.
01:48Cardinal Beczok is only the eighth Cardinal to have ever been chosen from Australia, and
01:53he is the first since the death of George Pell.
01:56He says he wants to be a Cardinal for everyone, not just Australians and Ukrainians, and he
02:02hopes to be flexible, holy, accessible, and not one of eminence.