Learn that you have been created "cardinal of the Holy Roman Church" by television, while you are at a friend's house ready to sit at the table.
Monsignor Arrigo Miglio, archbishop emeritus of Cagliari, 80 years old on July 18, still today manifests all the surprise experienced in the late morning of May 29 last. His name was also among the 21 new cardinals that Pope Francis announces at the end of the “Regina Coeli”.
Did you expect this appointment?
“But no, absolutely. I was in Cagliari, I had celebrated Confirmations in the parish of Bonaria, I finished at 11.30 so I said goodbye to Monsignor Baturi and then I went to lunch with friends. While they were preparing, we turned on the TV to watch the Pope's Angelus. We all expected words about the war in Ukraine, about peace. And then what happened happened but I didn't know anything about it. "
What was your first reaction?
“I immediately thought I had misunderstood. Then we went through the entire recording of the Angelus and, yes, that's my name indeed. It was really me. It was a real shock because it was the last thing I imagined ».
This eighth consistory was long overdue but few expected a three-month advance compared to August 27 when Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals, of which 16 "electors" in a future conclave. There will be five new Italian purples, two of which with voting rights.
What will change in your life with the cardinal's hat?
«I still don't know, also because there is this limit of eighty years which is valid not only for a future Conclave, but also for any other assignments. On my agenda there are many commitments that are above all preaching Spiritual Exercises, and it is the type of service and ministry that is a little more congenial to me. Then I honestly don't know if they'll ask me anything else. "
Do you feel you are a cardinal of the Church of Sardinia?
«I would say yes. Because in this land there are the two dioceses I served (Iglesias, from 1992 to 1999, and Cagliari, from 2012 to 2019), in which there are many more ties than with Piedmont, where the roots still remain. I dare not tell myself and call myself "Sardinian", it would perhaps be presumptuous. Certainly, and I always repeat, I feel "adopted" by you ».
