Based on the personal recollections of Toronto's Cardinal Francis Leo, the only period of his life when he didn’t feel a call to religious life was when he was a young child growing up in the Villeray neighbourhood near Montreal’s Little Italy.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, SJ, has the same advice for Toronto's new Cardinal Francis Leo that he would share with parishes seeking to carve its synodal path: do.
Longtime Montreal married Catholics John and Cecilia Zucchi’s road in life has more than 20 times led to Rome.
Cardinal finds strength in prayer, Mary, Canadian supporters
By Quinton Amundson, The Catholic Register
Describing the Papal Consistory that welcomed him and 20 other leaders of the Catholic Church into the College of Cardinals as “very profound” and “beautiful,” Cardinal Francis Leo of the Archdiocese of Toronto has deeply contemplated the prayers recited during the Dec. 7 ceremony in the Vatican.
Even as a student attending John F. Kennedy High School in Montreal, now Cardinal Francis Leo was called “Fr. Frank.”
Fr. Robert Gendreau said it does not take long for people to realize that there is something special about Cardinal Francis Leo.
A spirit of gratitude radiated out of Toronto's new Cardinal Francis Leo — as vivid as the red cassock adorning him — as he entered a Dec. 7 reception at the Spazio Vittoria event space several hours after being elevated to the College of Cardinals.
Toronto's Archbishop elevated along with 20 other Cardinals
By Quinton Amundson, The Catholic Register
Standing in communion alongside brother bishops from Argentina, Ecuador, Iran, Serbia and a rich assemblage of other nations, Toronto's Archbishop Francis Leo was elevated to the College of Cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica today.
In the presence of cardinals, bishops, priests, laity, colleagues, friends and family, Cardinal-elect Leo pledged a Dec. 6 welcome reception and dinner for the Canadian delegation to live up to the vows he will take at the Papal Consistory on Dec. 7.
Ontario’s Catholic bishops await learning which dicastery assignments Pope Francis will confer to new Cardinal Toronto Francis Leo with great anticipation.
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In October, when he was invited to join the College of Cardinals, Cardinal-elect Francis Leo said he would discern how this elevation could help him become an even better servant for the Archdiocese of Toronto and beyond.
According to Vincent Veerasuntharam's tabulations, 100 delegates departed from Toronto Pearson Airport, and an additional 75 emissaries lifted off from Montréal–Trudeau International Airport to witness Cardinal Francis Leo being welcomed into the College of Cardinals at the Vatican.
Only new Cardinal Francis Leo knows what he experienced when hearing the news announced Oct. 6 at the conclusion of Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus that he would be elevated to the College of Cardinals, but if it was anything like his predecessor’s experience in 2012, it is something he won’t forget anytime soon.
“I was in Washington, D.C., working with the International Commission on English in the Liturgy when in my hotel room I saw a little red light flashing on the phone that turned out to be a message from the nuncio telling me that Pope Benedict would name me a cardinal the next morning,” said Cardinal Thomas Collins of that day in early 2012. “Sure enough, Pope Benedict read off the list of the new cardinals and I was one of them — it was quite a remarkable experience.”
Cardinal Francis Leo’s promotion within the universal Catholic hierarchy also proved to be a gift for Neil MacCarthy, the longtime director of publications and communications for the Archdiocese of Toronto.