A Kiwi Archbishop woke this morning to text messages congratulating him after he was announced a Cardinal by Pope Francis overnight.

He went to bed an Archbishop and woke up a Cardinal.

Wellington's Archbishop John Dew said he couldn't understand why his cellphone kept beeping at 3am while he was holidaying in Waikanae Beach.

It turned out to be a series of messages carrying prayers and congratulations after his name was included in a list of 20 new cardinals in the Catholic Church, announced by Pope Francis early this morning, NZ time. Bishop Soane Mafi of Tonga was also on the list.

MAARTEN HOLL/Fairfax NZ DAUNTING: Wellington's Archbishop John Dew.

"It was a bit daunting and a little bit confusing really," Dew said of the wake-up call, after hastily ditching the shorts and returning to Wellington to face a barrage of media interviews.

Sipping thankfully on water after so much talking, Dew said his day-to-day role in Wellington wouldn't change much.

"My main responsibility is as the Archbishop of Wellington and ... that won't change."

KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax NZ NEW POST: Archbishop John Dew.

However, he would have some added responsibilities, including the ability to vote for the next Pope – an honour only bestowed on members of the College of Cardinals who are under the age of 80. At 66, that means it is likely Dew will take part in the next vote.

Of the 20 new cardinals, 15 are under 80.

A Pope is selected from within the college, so Dew said he would have to become "even more aware" of the strengths and weaknesses of his fellow cardinals to enable him to make an informed decision – although he laughed off any suggestion that he himself could be chsoen to head the church.

Dew became a priest when he was 21, and he said it was a deep need to help other people that drove him to the seminary.

"I needed to be doing something that would make a difference to the lives of others ... the call of the gospel was the only way that made sense for me."

During his career he has been a parish priest, worked on the Cook Islands, led youth programmes and worked in the seminary, but he never aspired to become a cardinal, with even his appointment as a bishop in 1995 coming as a surprise, he said. He was named an archbishop in 2004.

"I became a priest thinking that I would be a priest working in a parish for the rest of my life."

It was an exciting time for the Catholic Church with Pope Francis doing an amazing job of reaching out to people and "showing the world that actions can speak louder than words".

"He's a master at sort of symbolic action that's having an impact."

Being made an cardinal along with Mafi was a reflection on the importance the Pope put on this part of the world, Dew said.

"The Pope is recognising the church here and in this part of the world."

Dew will attend a Consistory ceremony in Rome next month where he will be officially declared a cardinal by donning the scarlet robes and having the hat placed upon his head by the Pope. He will also receive a cardinal's ring and be given a titular church in Rome to be the head of.

He was likely to have the new robes made in Rome as there "wasn't much demand for them" here in New Zealand, he said.

He becomes New Zealand's fourth cardinal, the last being Cardinal-priest Thomas Williams, also the Archbishop of Wellington, who received the honour in 1983.

Reuters reported the new cardinals - who will help choose the Pope's successor - has shifted the Vatican power centre away from the developed world.

It was the second time the 78-year-old Francis had used the appointment of cardinals to put his stamp on the 1.2 billion-member church.

The Pope also announced five retired archbishops and bishops would be made non-voting cardinals.as reward for their pastoral work

The two sets of appointments increase the chances that the next pontiff will, like Francis, be a non-European.

Only one of the new electors is from the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, which Francis has pledged to overhaul.

Last month, the Pope said the Curia was infected with careerism, scheming, greed and "spiritual Alzheimer's".

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the Pope "does not feel chained to the tradition" that some major cities in Italy and elsewhere in Europe or in the United States should automatically have cardinals to lead them.

No new cardinals from North America were chosen because their number "is already sizeable", Lombardi said. There are 15 cardinal electors in the United States and Canada, while Europe has 57.

There are now 125 voting cardinals, with Francis breaching the cap of 120.