On Oct. 5, in Rome, 13 prelates were made cardinals by Pope Francis at St. Peter’s Basilica. Among them was Canadian Jesuit Fr. Michael Czerny.

Source : Translation of the article "Consistoire: biographies des nouveaux cardinaux"

A new cardinal in the Curia: Jesuit Michael Czerny, current undersecretary of the Section for Migrants and Refugees at the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Born in Brno in the former Czechoslovakia in 1946, he came to Canada with his family at the age two. Ordained as a member of the Society of Jesus in 1973, the Canadian Jesuit founded and directed the Forum for Social Faith and Justice in Toronto for 10 years.

He took part in missions in Czechoslovakia and in France, notably in Jean Vanier’s community L’Arche. Shaken by the death of several of his brothers in Salvador, he asked to be sent there and took part in the negotiations bringing an end to the civil war in 1992. He was also part of another UN mission in Haiti after the 1995 coup d’etat. Called to Rome, Fr. Michael Czerny spent several years at the Social Justice Secretariat as part of the Jesuit General Curia.

He was sent afterwards to Kenya, Africa, to become the founding director of the African Jesuit AIDS Network to help Jesuits with the pandemic. In 2016, Pope Francis named him to the Migrant section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development as a collaborator. Named special secretary to the Amazon synod, the Pope ordained him bishop last Friday at St. Peter’s Basilica.