Pope Francis has appointed pastors for two of the world’s most important dioceses. He named Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, 67, as Archbishop of Mexico City, home to eight million Catholics, and Bishop Michel Aupetit, 66, a former doctor, as Archbishop of Paris. Cardinal Aguiar, a long-term ally of the Pope who was made a cardinal last year, collaborated with the then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio in producing the 2007 Aparecida document on evangelisation, a text often seen as a blueprint for the Francis papacy. Rocco Palmo, writing at his blog Whispers in the Loggia, said: “That sound you hear is the new cardinal-primate vaulting to the front of the papabile file.” Mr Palmo cited a source, close to Francis and Cardinal Aguiar, who described him as a “Renaissance man” who was “extremely smart and close to the people”. He said that, “more than anything”, the choice underscored the Pope’s emphasis on the role of bishops’ conferences, as Cardinal Aguiar was elected to lead Mexico’s conference twice. Archbishop-elect Aupetit, formerly Bishop of Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris, was a doctor for 11 years before becoming a priest at the age of 44. La Croix, the Catholic daily, said he had experienced a “lightning ascent in the Church hierarchy”, having become an auxiliary bishop four years ago. The paper noted that Archbishop-elect Aupetit was a bioethics expert who was criticised for taking part in the Manif pour tous protests against same-sex marriage. The paper said people described him as “warm and convivial”. He plays guitar, likes the singer Georges Brassens, and is a sculptor in wood. One Paris church has a statue of Christ he carved at its entrance. The archbishop-elect will succeed Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, while Cardinal Aguiar replaces Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera. Both turned 75 this year.