An Australian bishop has been named among 21 new cardinals in the Catholic Church by Pope Francis.

Among those named by the 87-year-old pontiff announced during his weekly noon-time prayer with pilgrims and tourists in St Peter’s Square on Sunday (local time) was Bishop Mykola Bychok of Melbourne’s Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

Bychok, who is Ukrainian and moved to Australia in 2020 when he was made a bishop, is only 44 – the youngest of those named on Sunday.

He will be the first Australian-based cardinal since George Pell. Pell, who died in January 2023, was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 2003.

The ceremony to install the new appointees, known as a consistory, will be held on December 8. It will be the 10th called by the Pope since his election 11 years ago as the first pontiff from Latin America.

Although popes can choose to appoint cardinals at any time, Francis’s decision to do so now came as something of a surprise.

As of the Pope’s announcement, there were 122 cardinals under 80 and able to vote in a future conclave.

Church law technically limits their numbers to 120, but recent pontiffs have frequently gone above that number.

Two of the cardinals currently able to vote in a conclave will age out by the end of the year. A further 13 will be there by the end of 2025.

All cardinals, regardless of their age, can take part in pre-conclave meetings, known as General Congregations, giving them a say in the type of person they think the younger cardinals should choose.

Cardinals rank second only to the Pope in the church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers.

Due to their historical power and influence, they are still called the princes of the church, although Francis has told them not to live like royalty and to be close to the poor.

-with AAP