VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis named 17 new cardinals Sunday, adding like-minded prelates from dioceses big and small to the club who will elect the next pope. Three were Americans in a clear signal to the conservative U.S. church hierarchy that Francis wants moderate pastors at the helm of the U.S. church.

The U.S. appointments also sent a more subtle political message with the surprise pick of Indianapolis Archbishop Joseph Tobin.

Tobin has openly opposed efforts by Indiana Gov. Michael Pence, now Donald Trump’s running mate, to bar Syrian refugees from being resettled in the state. A U.S. federal appeals court recently used stinging language in a ruling that will prevent the Republican vice presidential candidate from barring refugee resettlement in Indiana for now.

Francis has made the plight of refugees one of the hallmarks of his papacy, even bringing a dozen Syrian refugees home with him from Lesbos, Greece. He has asserted that anyone who wants to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out migrants — as Trump has proposed — is “not Christian.”

“You can find a political message” in the Tobin appointment, said Massimo Faggioli, a Villanova University expert on the Vatican.

The other new U.S. cardinals include the leading U.S. moderate, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, and outgoing Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell, whom Francis tapped in August to head the Vatican’s new family and laity office.

“Wow. I guess we are back!” marveled U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Hackett, a reference to the dearth of U.S. cardinal appointees in recent years.

Thirteen of the new cardinals, including all the Americans, are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a future conclave to elect Francis’ successor, the key job of a cardinal. Francis will elevate all 17 at a ceremony Nov. 19, on the eve of the closure of his Holy Year of Mercy.

As is Francis’ tradition, the new cardinals hail from some far-flung corners of the globe: Bangui, Central African Republic; Port Louis, Mauritius and Tlalnepantla, Mexico.

The new cardinals will bring the number of voting-age prelates to 120. Francis has appointed 44 of them, or just over a third.