Red Biretta for The Sedayu Boy

KOMPAS/AGUIDO ADRI

Jakarta Archdiocese bishop Ignatius Suharyo (center) is accompanied by father Samuel Pangestu (left) and father Hani R Hartoko at a press conference for the announcement of Pope Francis appointing 13 new cardinals in the Vatican at the Pastoral Building of the Jakarta Archdiocese on Thursday (5/9/2019).

For the Indonesian people, Saturday (5/10/2019) is the anniversary of the Indonesian Military (TNI). The same day, at around 4 p.m. Italian time or 9 p.m. West Indonesia Time, at the Church of St. Peter\'s Basilica in the Vatican, Pope Francis will hand over red birettas to 13 new cardinals. A biretta is a rectangular hat with three or four thick lines high on it.One of the 13 new cardinals is Mgr Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, 69, who was born in Sedayu, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta. He is now the Archbishop of Jakarta.

Red is the dominant color of the formal dress of a cardinal, a spiritual title since the days of Pope Silvester I (285-335). The word cardinal is taken from the Latin word cardo, which means “hinge”, a central element in a door or window to make it sturdy and able to be opened or closed. In the Catholic Church, a cardinal is a person who is appointed by the Pope with the task of connecting the Vatican with the local church.

Kompas/Raditya Helabumi

Mgr Ignatius Suharyo

This job demands loyalty and obedience to usque ad effusionem sanguinis (be willing to conduct yourselves with fortitude, even to the shedding of your blood), symbolized by the red robe. That mandate was signaled by Pope Francis when he appointed Ignatius Suharyo as Cardinal in his letter dated Sept. 1.

In the consistory, the cardinal inauguration ceremony, the aspect of red is also shown by the Pope\'s prayer as he puts a red biretta on the heads of each cardinal. In the past, being a yun marturion (martyr) or witness (faith) could be in the form of self-sacrifice for the sake of faith through effusio sanguinis (striving to manifest love for those who suffer the most).

"According to the [current] era, I understand the bloodshed as a mandate for compassion, as stipulated in the letter of Pope Francis. He [especially] asked that compassion must be developed by the Indonesian Church," said Mgr Suharyo.

"The Pope calls on the Indonesian Church to be compassionate to all persons who are victims and who have been made slaves by so much evil. They yearn for gentleness and passion from the faithful. Good attitude and compassion for the poor, who are in need, are a condition when a bishop is ordained.”

The Jakarta archdiocese\'s ministry of compassion services is manifested among the marginal people of Greater Jakarta.

Since being elected in 2013, replacing Pope Benedict XVI, 92, Pope Francis, 82, has appointed a new cardinal. The consistory on Saturday was the sixth cardinal inauguration. To the new cardinal he appointed, Pope Francis stressed, this appointment was not related to worldly respect, but was rather a call to give oneself completely and one’s living testimony. The Jakarta archdiocese\'s ministry of compassion services is manifested among the marginal people of Greater Jakarta.

The appointment of Mgr Suharyo also has another context in Pope Francis\' Church services policy. He was appointed in the context of dialogue with the world\'s Muslims. Like Mgr Cristobal Lopez Romero, 67, the Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, Mgr Suharyo lives and works in a country where the majority of the population is Muslim.

"There are two things that make the Catholic Church in full union with the Indonesian community, state and nation, namely the birth of the 1945 Constitution on Aug. 18, 1945 and the presence of the Istiqlal Mosque at the initiative of president Sukarno in 1951, with architect Frederich Silaban, who is a Protestant Christian. These two things are not merely symbols, they are concrete reality of life," said Mgr Suharyo.

In his service, Mgr Romero is very diligent in developing interfaith dialogue in the social, educational and social fields in Morocco. There is Mgr Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, 67, an expert in Islamic history, who became the Vatican\'s representative in rebuilding dialogue with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb from Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo. Mgr Guixot last May became the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and also represented the Vatican in the International Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue Center of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in Vienna.

The fourth cardinal in the context of establishing dialogue with Muslims is Mgr Michael Fitzgerald, 82, from England, a former Nunsio Apostolic (Vatican ambassador) in Egypt. He persisted in developing Arabic studies and rejected cultural conflicts between Islam and Christianity.

They belong to the Cardinal College, a legal institution in the Catholic Church that is tasked with serving and assisting the Pope\'s work.

The cardinal consistory is marked with the presentation of a ring, biretta and zucchetto (shoulder cap) that are red. They belong to the Cardinal College, a legal institution in the Catholic Church that is tasked with serving and assisting the Pope\'s work.

The authority of the Cardinal College, said Father Stefanus Tommy Oktora, a lecturer in Church Law at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy, Jakarta, is not only to appoint the Pope in the conclave; it actually functions to connect the Pope with the local church.

Mgr Suharyo is the third Indonesian to be appointed as cardinal after Cardinal Justinus Darmojuwono and Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja.

(H Witdarmono, Kompas journalist, 1990-2005, from the Vatican)