Consistory, as widely assumed, to be on November 24:
Following the November 24 concistory, the College of Cardinals will number 202 members of whom 121, under the age of 80, will be electors.
Given below is a list of the new cardinal electors:
– Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.
– Archbishop John Patrick Foley, pro-grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
– Archbishop Paul Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum.”
– Archbishop Angelo Comastri, archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Peter’s in the Vatican, vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City and president of the Fabric of St. Peter’s.
– Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
– Archbishop Raffaele Farina S.D.B., archivist and librarian of Holy Roman Church.
– Archbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco Vicente of Valencia, Spain.
– Archbishop Sean Baptist Brady of Armagh, Ireland.
– Archbishop Lluis Martinez Sistach of Barcelona, Spain.
– Archbishop Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris, France.
– Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, Italy.
– Archbishop Theodore-Adrien Sarr of Dakar, Senegal.
– Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Bombay, India.
– Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey, Mexico.
– Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, U.S.A.
– Archbishop Odilio Pedro Scherer of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
– Archbishop John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya.
Having pronounced the names of the new cardinal electors, the Pope then indicated that he had also decided to elevate to the dignity of cardinal “three venerable prelates and two worthy priests,” all over the age of 80 and hence non-electors, for their “commitment and service to the Church.” Their names are:
– His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, Iraq.
– Archbishop Giovanni Coppa, apostolic nuncio.
– Archbishop Estanislao Esteban Karlic, emeritus of Parana, Argentina.
– Fr. Urbano Navarrete S.J., former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
– Fr. Umberto Betti O.F.M., former rector of the Pontifical Lateran University.
John Allen’s insta-analysis:
Pope Benedict XVI announced the creation of 23 new cardinals today, including 2 Americans. The crop of new Princes of the Church includes 18 electors, meaning cardinals under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote for the next pope.
One of those Americans, longtime Vatican veteran John Foley, was widely tipped for the honor, but the other, Archbishop Daniel Nicholas DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, was a surprise. Most experts believed the honor would go instead to Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C.
DiNardo, born in Steubenville, Ohio, and a priest of the Pittsburgh diocese, is also a veteran of the Roman scene, having served in the Congregation for Bishops from 1984 until 1990. He worked there for a year under the future Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who at the time was the Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops.
Aside from DiNardo’s personal biography, the red hat is also considered a signal of the shifting Catholic population in the United States, away from its traditional center on the East Coast toward the Southwest.
The other major surprise is that the new red hat in Ireland went to Archbishop Seán B. Brady of Armagh, instead of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
snip
Benedict XVI also announced today that he had intended to name the oldest Polish bishop, Ignacy Ludwik Jez, as an “honorary” cardinal over the age of 80. Jez, who was 93, had spent three years in the Dachau concentration camp. Yesterday, however, Jez collapsed in Rome during a pilgrimage and died in an ambulance en route to the Gemelli Hospital.
So, what statements did Pope Benedict XVI make this morning by naming 23 new cardinals, including 18 under the age of 80 and hence eligible to vote for the next pope?
At least seven come to mind:
• He recognized the shifting center of the Catholic population in the United States from the East Coast to the Southwest;
• He signaled the importance of the American church by giving the country two new cardinals, although the U.S. is already over-represented in the College of Cardinals relative to its Catholic population;
• He did not redistribute cardinals to the global South, where two-thirds of Catholics now live, but instead slightly bolstered the over-representation of Europeans;
• He kept the percentage of Vatican officials among electors roughly the same at 25 percent;
• He indicated his sympathy for Iraq by naming the Chaldean patriarch a cardinal;
• He confirmed his concern for the intellectual life of the church by giving honorary red hats to two former rectors of flagship pontifical universities in Rome;
• He introduced at least two new candidates to become the first pope from the global South: Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India, and John Njue of Nairobi, Kenya.
snip
One key question church-watchers always ask when a consistory is announced is whether any of the new porporati, or “purpled ones,” as the Italians say, also stand out as papabili, or candidates to be the next pope.
While none stands out as an obvious front-runner, at least two new cardinals from the global South could draw attention when the time comes: Gracias, 62, of Mumbai, India; and Njue, 63, of Nairobi.
Gracias has won high marks in India for astutely navigating between avant garde elements in the local church pressing for greater inculturation and a more positive theological approach to non-Christian religions, and traditionalists in Rome made uncomfortable by both propositions. Gracias was the elected president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India prior to his appointment to Mumbai, reflecting the confidence of his brother bishops.
Njue, meanwhile, has a reputation as a voice of conscience. He denounced the Kenyan government’s handling of the investigation that followed the murder of American missionary Fr. John Kaiser in 2000, and in 2002 Njue received death threats for leading a campaign against political corruption. Njue was elected by his fellow bishops in Kenya to three terms as chair of the national bishops’ conference. Like Gracias, Njue knows his way around Rome, having studied at the Lateran University.
Update:
New Cardinal Archbishop Gracias of Mumbai, speaks to AsiaNews:
This is an opportunity to “better fulfill the Divine Service but also an honour, serving the Universal Church, and assist the Holy Father,” said Mgr Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai as he talked to AsiaNews about his appointment as cardinal which Benedict XVI made public at the end of today’s general audience.
Religious values “will be revitalised because as cardinal I believe I can better stress the importance of evangelical values and virtues which must permeate Catholics’ lives,” the new cardinal said. “I am very hopeful for India and Asia. I hope I can be a better instrument and achieve my goals to the maximum.”
At a personal level, “I am absolutely surprised,” he said. “This appointment came unexpectedly and now I feel very humbled by the choice the Holy Father made. I hope I can bring faith from the periphery to the centre of everyone’s life.”
Known as a tireless servant of truth, justice, freedom and love, Cardinal Gracias is inspired by two important figures of missionary Catholicism: Mother Teresa of Kolkata and Saint Francis Xavier.
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