CELAM
Pope Pius XII created Silva Cardinal-Priest of "S. Angelo in Pescheria" in the consistory of January 12, 1953. He attended the first General Conference of the Latin American Episcopal Conference in 1955, and the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. Silva was one of the cardinal electors in the 1958 papal conclave that selected Pope John XXIII, and again participated in the conclave of 1963, which resulted in the election of Pope Paul VI.