Anticipating the next Consistory
Translated from
August 20, 2010
The weekend of November 20-21 will most likely see the third consistory to create new cardinals in Benedict XVI's Pontificate.
Like the preceding one in 2007, the event would take place in conjunction with the Feast of Christ the King which is observed on the third Sunday of November. In 2007, the names of the new cardinals-elect were announced by the Holy Father at the end of his General Audience on October 17.
So, if the same pattern were to be repeated this year, the new list will likely be made known on October 13. Which means that the list is being finalized while the Pope is in summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, amid all the other preparations that Benedict XVI has been working on.
As we know, on the basis of norms set by Paul VI in 1973 and confirmed by John Paul II, the maximum number of cardinal electors is set at 120. According to Paul VI's 1970 Motu Proprio
Ingravescentem aetatem, these are the cardinals eligible to participate in a papal Conclave if they are less than 80 years old at the time of such Conclave.
Currently, there are 13 'free' posts among the electors, which will increase to at least 19 by mid-November, as another six cardinals turn 80 (or more than 19, if one of the present cardinal electors meets an untimely death by then).
This prompts the speculation that a new consistory will elevate at least 20 bishops to cardinal. However, John Paul II during his Pontificate several times raised the number of cardinal electors to more than 120, and even Benedict XVI did so by 1 with his second consistory.
Benedict XVI has created 30 new cardinal electors, one third of whom are prelates heading dicasteries of the Roman Curia. This time, it is likely more such Curial nominations will be made.
Six bishops now hold curial positions that have traditionally been held by cardinals - and five of them are Italian (Angelo Amato at the Congregation for Saints; Fortunato Baldelli, Major Penitentiary; Velasio De Paolis, for Economic Affairs; Francesco Monterisi, Arch-Priest of San Paolo fuori le Mure; and Raymond Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura).
In addition to them, the new prefects for Clergy and for the Religious, if the Pope should name non-cardinals to succeed the current holders, Claudio Hummes and Franc Rode, when they turn 75 soon.
Then there are three Curial prelates who need not be cardinals to head their fairly new Curial offices - Kurt Koch at Christian Unity; Francesco Coccopalmiero, for Legislative Texts; and Gianfranco Ravasi, at Culture.
Next, the Italian bishops Paolo Romeo (Palermo) and Giuseppe Betori (Florence) whose dioceses are traditionally headed by cardinals. An exception may be made for Turin, which awaits a new archbishop to succeed Severo Poletto, who is retiring at age 75 and has five years left as cardinal elector.
There is an unwritten rule that a diocese may not have more than two cardinal electors, but if this were followed strictly, then several potential cardinals would be left off the list, including such important names as Timothy Dolan of New York (Cardinal Egan has not turned 80), Andre Leonard of Mechelen-Brussels (Cardinal Danneels is still an elector), and Vincent Nichols of Westminster (Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor still an elector).
No such 'impediment' exists for some metropolitans considered to be very likely to be named cardinals in the next consistory - Marx of Munich-Freising, Collins of Toronto, Nycz of Warsaw, Kondrusiewicz of Minsk, Pasinya of Kinshasa, Wuerl of Washington, DC, and Braz de Avis of Brasilia.
Traditionalists also look forward to the elevation of Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo (Sri Lanka), one of the most ardent advocates of
Summorum Pontificum. If he is named a cardinal, Vatican observers think it would mean that his appoointment to Colombo after being secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship was indeed a promotion, and not that he was being sidelined.
Other dioceses traditionally associated with cardinal bishops, to whom non-cardinals were recently named, include Sevilla, Valencia, Baltimore, Marseilles, Bogota, Rio di Janeiro, Utrecht and Prague.
As usual, there are many more potential candidates than there are posts to be filled. But Vatican observers also point out that in 2011, nine new vacancies among cardinal electors will result from cardinals turning 80, which leaves open the possibility of another consistory next year, God willing.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 21/08/2010 17:36]