A new book over possible popes

On Wednesday, journalist Enzo Romeo, who covers the Vatican for Italy's Tg2 television network, launched his new book, Guerre Vaticane ("Vatican Wars"), in a presentation across the street from the Vatican Press Office in Rome's Ancora Bookstore.
The book was prompted by the Vatileaks affair, which lurched to a sort-of conclusion this week with the release of the sentence for Paolo Gabriele, the mole who passed rafters of confidential Vatican documents to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.
For readers outside Italy, perhaps the most interesting aspect of Romeo's book is his run-down of those prelates he considers papabili, meaning contenders to be the next pope. Here's how he breaks down the field:

Italians

1. Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan (whom Romeo clearly believes to be at the head of the pack)
2. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, president of the Italian bishops' conference
3. Archbishop Francesco Moraglia of Venice (not yet a cardinal, but a favorite of the more traditionalist wing of the church)
4. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture (Romeo concedes that Ravasi is an intellectual without pastoral experience and asks whether after Benedict XVI, "Can the church permit itself another professor?")

Non-Italians

1. Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
2. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria
3. Cardinal Peter Erdö of Budapest, Hungary
4. Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France
5. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York
6. Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of São Paulo, Brazil
7. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
8. Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea, president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"

(Source: J. L. Allen Jr. in - National Catholic Reporter)

Pope names six cardinals to put stamp on Church future

Pope Benedict named six new cardinals on Wednesday, including two from countries with large Muslim populations, to put his stamp on the future of the Catholic Church. All six are under 80 years old and thus eligible under Church law to enter a conclave that will one day choose Benedict's successor.

Among them is American Archbishop James Michael Harvey who, as head of the "Pontifical Household", was the boss of the pope's former butler Paolo Gabriele. He was convicted this month of stealing papal documents and leaking them to the media. A spokesman denied the promotion of Harvey, who will now leave the Vatican to become head of a Rome basilica, was a means of removing him because of the scandal.

The other five new members of the ultra-elite group known as "cardinal electors" are from Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Colombia and the Philippines.

Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, 72, the patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, 68, from Abuja in Nigeria, are from countries with significant Muslim populations. The pope's decision to raise the two to the highest rank in the Church short of the papacy indicates his concern for relations between Christianity and Islam.

The pope visited predominantly Muslim Lebanon last September and called on members of both faiths to work together to build peace in the Middle East and beyond. In Nigeria, which is about 50 percent Muslim, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in attacks since launching an uprising in 2009. Many of the attacks have been on Christians and churches.

ONLY ONE VATICAN OFFICIAL ELEVATED, NO ITALIANS

Cardinals are the pope's closest aides in the Vatican, where they run its key departments, and around the world, where they head dioceses to administer the 1.2 billion members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Harvey, 63, looked after world leaders visiting the Vatican and arranges the pope's audiences. Harvey suspended and then fired Gabriele after the butler's thefts were discovered by Monsignor Georg Ganswein, Benedict's private secretary and Gabriele's immediate superior. Gabriele once worked directly for Harvey and it was Harvey who vouched for him when he became papal butler. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said Harvey had been in his position for nearly 15 years and the pope wanted to reward him for long service.

Benedict was criticized in some Church circles last February when, in choosing his previous batch of cardinals, he elevated many from the Vatican's central bureaucracy. He was accused of neglecting the needs of the developing world.

Another new cardinal, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, the major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in India, is on the front line of inter-religious dialogue with Hinduism.

The other two come from predominantly Catholic countries - Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, 70, of Bogota, Colombia, and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, 55, of Manila in the Philippines, which is the largest Catholic country in Asia.

After the consistory, the number of "cardinal electors" will rise to 120, the maximum allowed under Church law. The total number of men in the college of cardinals will be 211.

Benedict has now named 67, or more than half, of the cardinals who will elect his successor from among their own ranks. The other 53 were named by Pope John Paul.

The pope's health appears to be good but he has been looking frail recently and has started using a cane. Popes usually reign for life but in a book in 2010, Benedict said he would not hesitate to become the first pontiff to resign in more than 700 years if he felt no longer able "physically, psychologically and spiritually" to run the Catholic Church.

The last pope to resign willingly was Celestine V in 1294 after reigning for only five months. Gregory XII reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the Holy See.

6 new cardinals on November 24

Pope Benedict XVI caught almost everyone off guard today, announcing at the end of his Wednesday General Audience that he planned to call a second Consistory this year, on November 24, to create six new cardinals.

For the past 50 years, there have never been two Consistories in one calendar year. This Consistory will come just 9 months after Benedict's most recent Consistory in February. The last time there were two Consistories in less than 12 months was in 1960-1961, but they were not in the same year (March 28, 1960 and January 16, 1961). One has to go back more than 80 years, to 1929, for the last time two Consistories occurred in the same year, under Pope Pius XI.

Here are the names of the six new cardinals:

1. James Michael Harvey; Prefect of the Papal Household (American)
2. Béchara Boutros Raï, O.M.M.; Patriarch of Antiochia (Antioch), Lebanon (Maronite)(br> 3. Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal; Major Archbishop of Trivandrum, India (Syro-Malankarese)
4. John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria
5. Jesus Ruben Salazar Gomez; Archbishop of Bogotá, Colombia
6. Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle; Archbishop of Manila, Philippines

What are the "take-aways" from this decision?

1. No Italians were chosen. In an ordinary Consistory, men like Francesco Moraglia in Venice and Cesare Nosiglia in Turin would have been expected to be named. But the Pope did not include them. Why? Well, a large number of Italians were chosen in the last two Consistories, sparking some criticism that deserving prelates from outside Italy were being overlooked. The decision to choose so many Italians was generally attributed to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State. Benedict seems to have heard the criticism, and the names chosen seem to be, at least in part, his response. So no Italians.

2. No Curial cardinals were chosen (though Archbishop Harvey works in the curia now, as Prefect of the Pontifical Household, he will be moved, the Pope said, outside the Curia, to the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls). Normally, men like Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, the new head of the Conregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and several other curial officials, would have been made cardinals in a new Consistory. So this will be not only a "non-Italian" but also a "non-Curia" Consistory. So no Curial officials. Does the Pope need to be clearer?

3. The emergence of the Eastern rites. Boutros Rai is the head of the Lebanese Maronites and Thottunkal is the head of the Syro-Malankars, an eastern rite. The Pope evidently thought it important to have two new Eastern rite cardinals in the college. Note: the Eastern rite liturgies have much in common with the liturgies of the Orthodox Churches.

4. Global representation. The men chosen are from every continent except Europe: two from Asia (India and the Philippines), one from the Middle East (Lebanon, which could be considered part of Asia - "Asia Minor" - I suppose), one from Africa (Nigeria), one from South America (Colombia), and one from North America (Harvey). So, no Europeans...

5. The "Vatileaks" case. A certain mystery surrounds the case of Archbishop Harvey. Harvey is only 63, relatively young to be named a cardinal. But more than this, the Pope's choice of words when he announced today that he had decided to make Harvey a cardinal suggested to some onlookers that the decision had been "last-minute." Writing for Korazym, Andrea Gagliarducci noted: "La decisione appare arrivata all’ultimo momento. Nell’annunciare la creazione a cardinale di Harvey, Benedetto XVI dice semplicemente che ha “in animo” di nominarlo arciprete di San Paolo..." ("The decision seems to have been made at the last minute. In announcing the creation of Harvey as a cardinal, Benedict XVI said simply that he had 'in mind' to name him archpriest of St. Paul's...") Gagliarducci went on to speculate that Harvey's appointment may in part be a result of the "Vatileaks" case, as Harvey is known to have been one of those who recommended the Pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, for that post back in 2006. Gagliarducci writes: "Su Harvey si è puntato il dito come colui che caldeggiò l’assunzione di Paolo Gabriele." ("Fingers were pointed at Harvey as the one who had recommended the hiring of Paolo Gabriele.") Gagliarducci also writes that Harvey's post - Prefect of the Pontifical Household - may be taken over by... Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, presently the Pope's personal secretary. "Per Georg Gaenswein, segretario di Benedetto XVI, si prospetta un ingresso nella Prefettura della Casa Pontificia, magari proprio al posto lasciato libero da Harvey." If this turns out to be the case, the make-up of the Pope's innermost circle in the Apostolic Palace would be less American, more German.

Looking Ahead

After this upcoming Consistory is held, 12 cardinals will turn 80 between November 24, 2012 (the day of the Consistory) and the end of 2013. So Benedict could decide to choose some of those left out this time for one 12-cardinal Consistory, or two smaller 6-cardinal Consistories, during the upcoming year.

By the end of 2014, 20 Cardinals reach age 80, so early 2015 could be a potential date for still another Consistory. By the end of January 2015 - just two years and three months from now - Cardinals Danneels, Farina, Meisner, Re, Tettamanzini, Humes, Amigo-Vallejo, Sardi, Rodé and Bertone himself all pass the age of 80.

(Source: Robert Moynihan in - Inside the Vatican magazine)

Next pope will be African according to odds from Irish bookmaker

The next pope is very likely to be African according to Paddy Power, Ireland’s leading bookmaker, who has come out with a list of “papabile,” those considered papal material. The list comes at a time of increased health problems for Pope Benedict, who, at 85, has begun using a cane and is appearing more frail.

Favorite is Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, who is 15/8 (bet eight to win fifteen), while in second place is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana at 9/4. That’s two top Africans in the top two spots according to the bookmaker’s odds.

In third place in the odds is Archbishop Angelo Scola of Venice at 7/1 while in fourth is Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiago of Honduras at 10/1 while Cardinal Albert Malcolm Ranjith at 33.1 rounds out the top five.

Arinze was considered papabile in 2005 when Benedict was elected, and he now has Benedict’s old job within the Vatican. Against him is his age, he is almost 80 and may be too old when Benedict passes

Cardinal Turkson is only 64, born to a Methodist mother and Catholic father, and has said that "if God would wish to see a black man also as pope, thanks be to God.” The Catholic Church chronicler Rocco Palmo called Turkson the lone Scripture scholar in the Pope's "Senate" and believes that his status as a potential "papabile" has been elevated due to his appointment as spokesman for Second Synod for Africa in 2009.

Three recent popes have come from the Venice archdiocese which makes Cardinal Scola an automatic favorite as the top Italian. Church experts say the best outsider is Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada who handled the recent Eucharistic Conference in Dublin.

(Source: P. Counihan, - IrishCentral)

Introducing a new papal candidate: cardinal Filoni

As a journalist, I pride myself on trying to see things based on the facts as they stand, not as I or someone else might like them to be. Thus whenever I get the “next pope” question, I try to stay tethered to reality, not floating long-shots that might excite one constituency or another, but pointing to figures who seem to have the best chance of actually being elected.

The problem is that when it comes to the essentially unknowable, it’s tough to be confident about what “reality” actually is. There are no polls, no fundraising reports, no ad buys, nothing empirical other than “buzz” to separate serious contenders from the crowd. Recent history suggests that sometimes those perceived front-runners come through, as in Paul VI and Benedict XVI, but other times dark horses emerge, as in John XXIII and John Paul II.

This is by way of introducing a new papal candidate, who I freely confess has not been featured in any of the latest round-ups of contenders (including my own), and someone who would probably be an afterthought in most conversations in Rome about who might come next.

(For the record, there's no sign of a health crisis around Benedict which would suggest a transition is imminent. It's just that with an 85-year-old pope, the question can't help but come up.)

Before rolling out the name, let me tick off what background talks with cardinals from various parts of the world suggest they will be seeking when the next file into the Sistine Chapel:

• Someone who can get the Vatican under control, especially in light of perceived disarray highlighted by the Vati-leaks mess;
  
• Someone with a broad global vision equipped to lead the church in a globalized era, at a time when its greatest growth is outside the West;
  
• Someone with enough intellectual wattage and personal courage to defend the church against runaway secularism;
• Someone capable of advancing the “New Evangelization” by projecting a positive image of the church, either because of their media savvy or their inspiring personal story.
  

Accomplishing all of that at once is a tall order, but there’s a cardinal waiting in the wings who could seem to fit the bill: Fernando Filoni, 66, currently prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Vatican's sprawling and powerful missionary department.

Filoni recently gave a lengthy interview to the prestigious journal 30 Giorni, covering a wide variety of subjects, from the “Year of Faith”, to China, to his experience as nuncio during the 2003 war in Iraq. Filoni comes off as thoughtful, cosmopolitan, balanced, and sincere, and it could be the kind of thing that propels him into the conversation about papal candidates.

Yes, I know Filoni is an Italian and a career Vatican official, at a time when the leaks scandal hasn’t done much for the stock of either group. Yes, I also know Filoni has a reputation as a reserved figure, not the kind of guy to take the world by storm. Stay with me, and let’s review how Filoni could satisfy the criteria sketched above.

First, Filoni certainly knows the inner workings of the Vatican, having served in the Secretariat of State early in his career, between diplomatic postings, and then from June 2007 to May 2011 as the all-important sostituto, or “substitute,” effectively the pope’s chief of staff. That biography is not an unmixed blessing, because Filoni was on the scene for some of the more spectacular implosions of Benedict’s papacy: the cause célèbre surrounding a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop in 2009, for instance, and the surreal Boffo affair in early 2010.

Yet most observers place blame for those episodes at the feet of Filoni’s former boss, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State. Indeed, conventional wisdom is that Bertone and Filoni, once close, had a falling out. True or not, the perception helps. To some, Filoni could seem perfect – an insider, yet not terribly complicit in the present malaise.

Much the same thing could be said of another former substitute, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, currently prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. The problem with Sandri, however, is that he served in the late John Paul years under former Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and thus arguably could be tied to some of the perceived failures from that period – most especially, inaction in the case of the late Mexican Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, on charges of sexual misconduct and abuse. Filoni, at least, does not carry that kind of baggage.

Second, few cardinals could plausibly claim a global vision as deep or as broad.

Consider where Filoni has served, and not as a tourist, but getting to know these cultures both at the top and at the grassroots: Sri Lanka, from 198-83; Iran, 1983-1985, shortly after the Khomeini revolution; Brazil, 1989-92; Hong Kong, 1992-2001, where he opened a “study mission” on mainland China; Jordan and Iraq, 2001-06; the Philippines, 2006-07.
These were hardly pleasure cruises. He was in Tehran during the Iran/Iraq war, in China for the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, and most famously, in Baghdad when the bombs fell in 2003.

Now, as prefect of the Vatican’s missionary department, Filoni also has developed deep contacts with the church across Africa. It’s tough to name a geopolitical priority in the early 21st century – China, Islam, or anything else – which Filoni doesn’t understand from the inside out.

Third, Filoni comes off as a man of faith who won’t brook compromises on Catholic identity, but also someone with a deft touch in engaging forces which can be hostile to the church.

His seminary studies coincided with Vatican II, and his episcopal motto is Lumen gentium Christus, recalling the council’s dogmatic constitution on the church. In his 30 Giorni interview, Filoni says that one of the ways he survived the upheaval of the 1970s, when he was doing graduate study, was by living in a parish rather than a college, so that he never lost contact with the practical concerns of real people, rather than getting caught up in ideological debates.

Despite his erudition, Filoni also appreciates the simple touches. For the “Year of Faith”, his office is distributing a rosary with beads of different colors between the decades, representing the continents: white for Europe, red for America, yellow for Asia, blue for Oceania and green for Africa. The idea is to encourage people to pray for evangelization throughout the world.

Fourth, Filoni may not be a media star, but he does understand how the communication business works. Among other things, one of his degrees is from Rome’s Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali, a prestigious private secular institution, where he studied “techniques of public opinion,” specializing in journalism.

Filoni’s biography could also stir the world’s imagination, especially his record in Iraq.

At a time when all the other Western ambassadors fled for safety, not to mention U.N. officials and even many journalists, Filoni refused, saying he couldn’t abandon the local Catholic community or other suffering Iraqis. “If the pastor flees in moments of difficulty,” he said, “the sheep are also lost.”

Though no fan of Saddam Hussein, Filoni had been an outspoken critic of the Western-imposed sanctions, saying “they hurt the people, not the regime.” He also opposed the U.S.-led invasion, and repeats his judgment in the 30 Giorni interview: “You can’t export democracy through war.”

Filoni remained in the country afterwards, as Christians found themselves primary targets amid rising chaos. He refused to adopt special security measures, wanting to face the same risks as locals who didn’t have access to guards and armored vehicles; he said his aim was to be seen “as an Iraqi, by the Iraqis.” That choice almost cost him dearly in February 2006, when a car bomb went off outside the nunciature, demolishing a garden wall and smashing window panes, but luckily leaving no one hurt.

As a coda to that episode, after the bomb went off, a Muslim contractor showed up at the nunciature with thirty workers to repair the damage, out of respect for the solidarity Filoni had shown.

Given that Iraq is a harrowing symbol of rising anti-Christian violence, Filoni is in a unique position to raise consciousness on the issue.

Naturally, you can’t be around as long as Filoni without drawing some criticism. Aside from mixed reviews for his record as substitute, some also wonder about his affection for the Neocatechumenate, a controversial Catholic movement born in Spain. Most basically, many people would probably say that Filoni’s natural habitat is behind the scenes, not out front.

Yet no one is likely to perfectly incarnate all the things the cardinals may want. The longer they look at Filoni, the more they might like what they see.

(Source: John L Allen Jr in National Catholic Reporter)

Classroom Exercises on Who Will Be the Next Pope

The Catholic Church is like Fiat-Chrysler. Slumping in Italy and Europe, it is coming back strong in the United States and has its most promising market in the rest of the world. With a clue about who the future pope will be.

The nation that has the largest number of Catholics today is Brazil, with 134 million, more than Italy, France, and Spain put together. Catholicism there has successfully confronted fierce competition, which in recent decades inflicted serious damage on it. Because when liberation theology was in fashion among the neo-Marxist Catholic élite, the faithful did not convert en masse to their message. They went over by the millions to the new Pentecostalist Churches, with their festive celebrations, music, singing, healings, speaking in tongues. But now this exodus has stopped. In the Catholic Church as well, the faithful are finding the warmth of participation and firmness of doctrine that three and four centuries ago brought success to the Reductions, the Jesuit missions among the Indians. Next year, world youth day will be in Brazil. Pope Joseph Ratzinger has promised that he will be there.

Then there are the Asian tigers. South Korea is the emblem of these. There the number of Catholics is rising at an astonishing rate, with tens of thousands of adults baptized each year. They were the soul of the popular movement that peacefully overthrew the military dictatorship. And they are an active part of the productive classes that produced the Korean economic miracle. In the capital, Seoul, they are now 15 percent of the population, when only half a century ago they didn't even exist. And as in a big company, the Korean Catholic Church has set itself the goal of converting 20 percent of the population by 2020: "Evangelization Twenty Twenty" is the title of the program.

In Asia, the Philippines is the only nation in which Catholics are in the majority, with 76 million faithful. But beyond Korea, Catholicism is on the rise in various other countries. Even where it is most persecuted, like in China.

The estimates of the number of Christians there, Catholic and not, varies from a minimum of 16 million to a maximum of 200. Rodney Stark, one of the scholars most qualified in this area, identifies 70 million as the most realistic figure. Twice as many women convert as do men. And the conversions are more frequent in the cities, above all among the emerging and more prosperous classes. Those who visit the Chinese universities are surprised by the atmosphere there, more palpably "Christian" than in many Western universities.

Not to mention Africa. South of the Sahara, over the past century, Catholics have gone from less than 2 million to 130 million, with a missionary impetus unprecedented in the two thousand years of the Church's life. The most surprising character of this expansion is that it originated in Europe precisely when the Church there was gasping under the pressure of a culture and of powers hostile to Christianity.

But the surprises don't stop there. In the Unites States, the Catholic Church has stood up better than the historical Protestant Churches to the advance of secularization precisely where it has refused to align itself with the dominant cultures and ways of life. And today it appears much more active in the public arena, not only because of the new "affirmative" bishops who are leading it, but also because of the presence among its faithful of increasingly more numerous ranks of immigrants from Latin America. For Benedict XVI, the Church in the United States is the proof that the extinguishing of the faith is not the inevitable fate of the West.

In short, the metamorphosis underway in Catholicism worldwide is such that, if one wished to do a classroom exercise, the candidate for pope who most corresponds to it today is without a doubt Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet, 68, multilingual, the former archbishop of Québec, which is one of the most secularized regions of the planet, a talented theologian of the Ratzingerian school, now the prefect of the Vatican Congregation that selects new bishops, and above all for many years a missionary in Latin America. In a Church that has its most promising "market" not in Europe but in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and even in the United States, the signs are pointing to a single candidate: Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet.

(Source: Sandro Magister in "L'Espresso")

Vatileaks scandal could weaken chances of Italian pope

Intrigue at the Vatican could weaken the chances of the next pope being an Italian, observers said, as memos leaked from the Holy See's corridors of power lift the lid on tensions between cardinals. While revealing deep discord within the Vatican administration, the "Vatileaks" scandal has also shown Pope Benedict XVI's concern with the day-to-day running of the Church despite the 85-year-old's physical frailty. That has not stopped rumours about a possible successor, however.

A quarter of the cardinals that can elect a new pope are Italian and the general view before the scandal broke was that they would help elect one of their own, reverting to a centuries-long tradition of Italian popes. The last non-Italian pope before the German Benedict and his Polish predecessor John Paul II was Adrian VI, who died in 1523.

But that logic is looking increasingly improbable as the scandal has created an impression that the Roman Curia is dominated by Italians more concerned with their ambitions than the greater good of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. "The side effect of Vatileaks is that it has seriously damaged the prospects for an Italian candidature to the papacy," Marco Politi, a Vatican expert who writes for Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano, told AFP. "Many cardinals and bishops abroad see the incident as an unpleasant Italian affair although it really affects the whole Church," he said, adding: "A lot will depend on whether Benedict XVI can get a firm handle on the situation."

Leaks of confidential memos -- many of them published in a book called "Your Holiness" by Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi -- have thrown into question the role of Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

The scandal led to the arrest last month of the pope's butler, Paolo Gabriele, as the alleged source of the leaks and has brought public criticism of the increasingly powerful Bertone's leadership from senior Italian clergy.

Vatican watcher Sandro Magister said: "The Roman Curia (the central administration of the Catholic Church) has never had a good image. Clergy in other parts of the world see it as "a centre of power that creates problems instead of helping. They now find confirmation of this," he said. The Italian cardinals are "no single bloc," he said, adding that no one candidate among them had emerged as a "convincing" possible successor.

Even the rising star of the hitherto most favoured Italian candidate, the 70-year-old Archbishop of Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola, has been waning. Scola who has earned plaudits for his dynamism and international initiatives but does not rate highly for his pastoral qualities "has been affected indirectly" by disputes between other Italian cardinals, Magister said. The expert dismissed as improbable Scola's attempts to distance himself from the influential Catholic movement "Communion and Liberation" which he helped promote but which is now being criticised for its clout in Italian politics.

While papal elections tend to favour "insiders" such as Benedict himself, who headed up the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years, there is now increased interest in possible "outsider" candidates.

One name frequently cited in Vatican circles is that of Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet, 68, a respected theologian who heads up the world's bishops. Ouellet speaks several languages and is seen as a "modern conservative" as well as having clout in Latin America -- the world's most Catholic continent.

A similar candidate could be the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, who at 62 is still relatively young for the Catholic hierarchy and whose rhetoric is seen as more in tune with the modern world than that of other prelates

Brazil's Joao Braz de Aviz, 64, who is in charge of religious orders at the Vatican, is also respected for his openness and his pastoral qualities.

Ghanian cardinal Peter Turkson, 63, head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Honduran cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, 69, who leads Caritas International, are also sometimes mentioned but are seen as too progressive.

Conclaves -- the meetings of cardinals to elect a new pope -- can of course always have unexpected results. The most famous example? Karol Wojtyla in 1978.

Source: AFP

A poll average from Rome on the next pope

Right now, the “next pope” conversation isn’t creating much buzz. There’s no sign of a health crisis around Benedict XVI, and Catholic attention around the world is focused on more local matters: the LCWR crackdown in the States, the disciplining of liberal priests and calls for Cardinal Sean Brady to resign over the sex abuse crisis in Ireland, a political scandal involving Communion and Liberation in Italy, and so on.

Yet with an 85-year-old pope beginning to show his age, speculation about who might come next is always in the background, even if it’s on a low boil.
I just returned from a couple of weeks in Rome, and below I offer a sort of “poll average” of the current state of thinking about papal candidates among Vatican-watchers, by which I mean Vatican personnel, prelates from around the world, diplomats, journalists, academics, and so on. Such conventional wisdom is hardly infallible, so take this for what it’s worth – no more, really, than the kind of thing you’ll hear at many Roman dinner tables.
The eleven names below are organized into concentric circles of plausibility, from “front-runners” to “possibilities” to “long shots.” My experience is that pretty much everybody agrees on the top two names on this list, Cardinals Angelo Scola and Marc Ouellet, but after that things get murkier.
For each candidate, I offer a thumbnail sketch of the usual case for and against. These aren’t designed to reflect the full range of views about each man in wider Catholic discussion, but rather the points likely to carry the most weight among cardinals – who, of course, are the ones who will do the voting.


Front-Runners


1. Cardinal Angelo Scola, 70, Italy, Archbishop of Milan
The case for: Scola, a veteran academic whose interest is theological anthropology, is very much in sync with Benedict XVI, but he’s personally more of an extrovert with a somewhat greater optimism about the church’s prospects in the here and now. One signature initiative is the “Oasis” project, designed to foster dialogue with Islam and to support Christians in the Middle East – two front-burner priorities for any future pope. It was Scola who suggested to Benedict that he create a new Vatican department dedicated to the “New Evangelization” (based on an idea from the late Fr. Luigi Guissani, founder of Communion and Liberation). Fans say that Scola blends John Paul’s swagger with Benedict’s intellectual heft, making him the ideal man to carry the “New Evangelization” forward.
The case against: Italian cardinals are notoriously divided, so any Italian candidate likely will face opposition. Some Italians are leery of Scola’s roots in Communion and Liberation, not to mention the way he’s distanced himself amid scandals involving politicians linked to the movement. Since he’s never held a full-time Vatican job, some may question if he has what it takes to remedy its perceived problems of governance. Scola can also occasionally come off as a bit theoretical and dense, prompting the question of whether it’s wise to follow one teaching pontificate with another.


2. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, 67, Canada, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
The case for: A native of Quebec, Ouellet is another intellectual disciple of Benedict XVI, respected for his brains, his integrity and his spiritual depth. He’s quite a cosmopolitan, having grown up in French-speaking Canada, studied in Austria and Germany and served as a Sulpician priest in Colombia. He’s put in two tours as a Vatican official, and in between he led the Quebec archdiocese – giving him a mix of both pastoral experience and Roman seasoning. Ouellet would represent a break from the European domination of the papacy, the “first pope from the New World.” Supporters say he would make a prayerful, humble pontiff, as well as a strong teacher of the faith and defender of Catholic identity.
The case against: Some might argue that Ouellet is too much like Benedict XVI for his own good – cerebral, retiring, uncomfortable in the spotlight and more passionate about the life of the mind than realpolitik. As one veteran Vatican-watcher put it, speaking of Ouellet, “A Ratzingerian is inevitably going to be less than Ratzinger. You always lose something with a photocopy.”


3. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 68, Argentina, Prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches
The case for: Sandri was the Vatican’s “substitute,” or chief of staff, from 2000 to 2005, where he earned a reputation as a capable manager. Theologically, he’s by the book, but politically he’s seen as a moderate rather than a hard-liner. Biographically, he’s the best of both worlds – an Argentine by birth, so he could be touted as a “Third World pope,” yet he comes from an Italian family and has spent most of his career in the Vatican so he knows its workings from the inside. Sandri might draw some American support, since one of his assignments as a diplomat was in the papal embassy in Washington.
The case against: Some argue that Sandri might make a better Secretary of State than a pope, where he could make the trains run on time while someone else does the teaching and inspiring. There’s also a concern that because Sandri served under Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Secretary of State under John Paul II, he might be tainted by some of the scandals of the Sodano era – especially those involving the late Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Moreover, the Congregation for Eastern Churches may not be the best Vatican post from which to win friends among the king-maker cardinals in a future conclave.


Possibilities


1. Cardinal Péter Erdő, 59, Hungary, Archbishop of Budapest
The case for: Erdő has twice been elected the president of European bishops’ conference, and since roughly half the cardinals who will elect the next pope are Europeans, that show of confidence is significant. The European bishops under Erdő have also worked hard to establish good relations with their opposite numbers in Africa, so he could pick up support in the developing world. He’s considered a staunch traditionalist on doctrine, but good at building consensus among different currents in the European episcopacy.
The case against: Erdő is a canon lawyer by training, with a very precise mind, but some may wonder if he has the skills and personality to be able to reach out successfully to the wider world. At 59, he’s the fourth youngest member of the College of Cardinals, and that may create questions about whether his would be an excessively long papacy. Some may also wonder if the Catholic situation in post-Communist Hungary is so unique that it’s not the best preparation to lead the universal church.


2. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, 69, Italy, Archbishop of Genova
The case for: When Bagnasco was tapped as president of the Italian bishops’ conference in 2007, he was seen as an acceptable, but relatively weak, compromise. In the time since, his stock has risen. He’s now viewed as a capable leader in his own right, fairly savvy about both secular politics and the media. The fact that Bagnasco is sometimes perceived as at odds with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the current Secretary of State under Benedict XVI, may actually work in his favor, since at least some cardinals fault Bertone for the Vatican’s managerial stumbles, and would thus see Bagnasco as an alternative.
The case against: Bagnasco has a high profile in Italy, but isn’t terribly well known elsewhere. Some may wonder if the election of the president of the Italian conference would mean that Italian rivalries would follow him into the papacy, an especially sensitive point in the wake of the Vatican leaks scandal. There’s also the question of whether Bagnasco has a sufficiently global vision, since he’s never really studied or worked outside Italy.


3. Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, 62, Brazil, Archbishop of São Paulo
The case for: Latin America is home to roughly half the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, and many church-watchers regard Scherer as the strongest Latin candidate. He’s got plenty of Roman experience, having studied at the Gregorian University and later worked in the Congregation for Bishops from 1994 to 2001. In Brazil’s fairly progressive Catholic ethos, Scherer is usually seen as a conservative (he’s got good ties, for instance, to Opus Dei), but elsewhere his views often come off as moderate, meaning he could potentially attract support from different currents.
The case against: For one thing, the last two Brazilians who came to Rome, Cardinals Claudio Hummes and João Braz de Aviz, both have been seen as nice guys but perhaps not quite tough enough, so Scherer might have to overcome that question mark. Although he has the experience of running the largest archdiocese in the world’s largest Catholic country, some question how effective he’s been at stemming the tides of Pentecostalism, secularism and religious indifference that have eaten away at Brazil’s Catholic base. Finally, Scherer comes from a family of German immigrants, so some might interpret his election as representing a second German in a row.


Long Shots


1. Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, 69, Italy, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
The case for: Ravasi is undeniably brilliant, conversant not just in theology but across a staggering variety of disciplines, including world literature, art, science and philosophy. He’s pioneered the “Courtyard of the Gentiles” project, the Vatican’s most successful recent effort to engage secular non-belief. Ravasi typically comes off as funny, relaxed and affable, and is remarkably down to earth for a man of his erudition, having written not just learned tracts but also popular columns in Italian newspapers.
The case against: In the tribal world of Italian church politics, Ravasi has always been a tribe unto himself – which is part of his charm, but it also means he has no natural base of support. There are also questions about his ability to bend the Vatican to his will, as well as whether his classically European intellect is suited to the new global realities of Catholicism.


2. (tie) Cardinal Peter Turkson, 63, Ghana, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, and Cardinal Robert Sarah, 66, Guinea, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
The case for: If the next pope were to be an African, it would likely be one of these two. Both served as bishops of major dioceses in Africa, and both are now working in Vatican posts. Turkson would get the nod for deeper pastoral experience, having served as both Archbishop of Cape Coast in Ghana and as an officer of SECAM, the continental umbrella group for bishops’ conferences in Africa; Sarah would be seen as the heavier hitter inside the Vatican. Turkson has a higher public profile, he’s an extremely likeable man, and he usually comes off as a pragmatist, able to engage a wide cross-section of views. Many see Sarah as the more effective behind-the-scenes force, and probably the more conservative of the two.
The case against: Aside from the fact that Turkson and Sarah might split whatever vote there would be for an African, each has potential liabilities. As the head of a pontifical council (which doesn’t really wield binding authority over much of anything), Turkson hasn’t fully laid to rest questions about his ability to govern. Sarah, meanwhile, hasn’t yet demonstrated the comfort level in the public spotlight that will be expected of any 21st century pope.


3. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, 62, United States, Archbishop of New York
The case for: During the consistory in Rome last February, Dolan was the celebrity. The speech he delivered to the College of Cardinals on the “New Evangelization,” in the presence of Benedict XVI, is still being talked about; one Vatican-watcher compared it to Obama’s 2004 keynote address at the DNC, in the sense of being the speech that made him a star. American reaction to Dolan may be focused on his policy choices, but elsewhere Dolan looms largest as a symbol, incarnating a style of church leadership that’s relaxed rather than angst-ridden; confident rather than in retreat; able to speak the language of the street and to laugh at itself. In Rome, there’s a growing consensus that Dolan is the first plausible American papabile.
The case against: Aside from the historical taboo against a “superpower pope,” which may be waning but is still in the air, there are other reservations about Dolan. Although he’s lived and worked in Rome, he’s never held a Vatican job. There are concerns about how well he knows the realities of the church outside the West. His Italian, while passable, isn’t fluent, which has historically been seen as a prerequisite for the Bishop of Rome. Temperamentally, some cardinals may regard the boisterous, exuberant Dolan as just too much of a shock to the system – well suited to New York, perhaps, but not so much the papacy.


4. Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, 54, Philippines, Archbishop of Manila
The case for: At 54, Tagle is already a key point of reference for Catholicism in Asia, the “go-to” figure within the Asian bishops’ conference on most theological questions. He’s taken strong positions against a proposed “Reproductive Health” bill in the Philippines, which includes promotion of birth control, yet his towering social concern is defense of the poor, and he’s got a strong environmental streak. He’s a gifted communicator, making him a sought-after speaker and media personality. He drew rave reviews for his performance at a 2008 International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, where observers say he brought an entire stadium to tears. One Filipino commentator has said that Tagle has “a theologian’s mind, a musician’s soul and a pastor’s heart.”
The case against: To begin, there’s the obvious fact that Tagle is not yet a cardinal. (That could change as early as next year, if there’s indeed a consistory in 2013 consisting mostly of non-curial appointments). Despite having studied in Rome, Tagle has no real Vatican experience. Some may wonder how much he’s up to speed on realities in other parts of the world; during a Vatican summit in February on the sex abuse crisis, for instance, Tagle was caught off guard when reporters asked what the law is in his country on reporting accusations of child abuse, suggesting to some that he hasn’t assimilated the lessons of the crisis elsewhere. Tagle’s youth is also likely a drawback, at least for now. Even if the cardinals are inclined to roll the dice, they may hesitate about having to live with that bet for what could be three decades or more.

(Source: John L. Allen Jr, in - NCR)

Des cardinaux de plus en plus nombreux et de plus en plus âgés

Les statistiques sur le Collège des cardinaux publiées par le site catholic-hierarchy.org montrent que, si les cardinaux n’ont jamais été aussi nombreux, ils sont aussi de plus en plus âgés. Le site de référence sur l’épiscopat dans le monde, catholic-hierarchy.org, vient de publier une mise à jour de ses statistiques sur le collège cardinalice, prenant notamment en compte le consistoire du 18 février dernier au cours duquel Benoît XVI a créé 22 nouveaux cardinaux.

Premier enseignement de ces statistiques, qui existent depuis le XVIe siècle : jamais les cardinaux n’ont été si nombreux dans l’Église : 210 à ce jour (213 au lendemain du consistoire du 18 février). Si Sixte Quint avait, en 1586, limité leur nombre à 70, leur nombre a considérablement augmenté, notamment après la réforme de Paul VI, en 1973, qui avait limité le nombre d’électeurs de moins de 80 ans à 120.

Ces statistiques permettent d’intéressantes comparaisons, notamment quant à la moyenne d’âge croissante des cardinaux, corollaire notamment de l’augmentation de l’espérance de vie. Ainsi, si la moyenne d’âge des cardinaux était de 64,4 ans en 1585, elle est aujourd’hui de 77,93 ans.

Mais cette moyenne d’âge est aussi en croissance si l’on ne tient compte que des seuls cardinaux électeurs : 72,2 ans. Un signe de l’augmentation de l’âge des nouveaux cardinaux. À titre de comparaison, l’âge moyen des cardinaux créés le 18 février par Benoît XVI était de 71,16 ans alors celui des cardinaux créés le 5 mars 1973 par Paul VI était de 59,9 ans !

Autre conséquence de cette augmentation de l’âge de création des cardinaux, la durée moyenne d’un cardinalat montre une remarquable stabilité, malgré l’augmentation de l’espérance de vie : 11,4 ans aujourd’hui contre 11,3 ans il y a 400 ans.

(Source: La Croix)

Is it time for a Jacobin pope?

As a thought exercise, ask yourself what period of time the following paragraph about the Vatican seems to reflect.

"For those who've seen the place in better days, the Vatican looks deeply troubled. In the absence of strong leadership, internal tensions seem to be bursting into view. Even at the height of his powers, the pope took scant interest in governance. As he ages and becomes more limited, a sense of drift is mounting - a conviction that hard choices must await a new day, and probably a new pontiff."

Although it seems perfectly apt in February 2012, in fact, that paragraph was written in late 2004. That's the irony: Many cardinals who elected Benedict XVI thought they were buying an end to the crisis of governance in the twilight of John Paul's reign, only to find they'd simply traded it in for a newer model.

In the abstract, Joseph Ratzinger seemed the man to put things right. As the saying went, Ratzinger was in the curia but not of it -- he knew where the bodies were buried, but he was never the stereotypical Vatican potentate, forever building empires and hatching schemes. Plus, he's hardly the extrovert John Paul was, so it seemed reasonable he might invest more energy in internal business.

Facing what is, alas, merely the latest implosion in the last six years, the mushrooming "Vatileaks" scandal, one has to ask: What went wrong? (The latest chapter of that saga came Wednesday when Italian TV aired an anonymous interview with an alleged mole who claimed to be one of at least 20 insiders leaking documents.)

It's become commonplace to say that Benedict XVI sees himself as a teaching pope, not a governor, and that's obviously true. Still, Benedict actually has engineered a sort of limited reform inside the Vatican, and for those with eyes to see, it marks a real break with the past. Not so long ago, it was taken for granted that the following was just what Vatican heavyweights do, to some extent reflecting traditional Italian assumptions about men of state:

- Using positions of power to reward allies and block enemies, thereby building a network of patronage and influence.
- Moving money around without much of a paper trail, steering contracts and resources to one's friends and supporters.
- Turning a blind eye to the personal failings of people perceived as loyal to the church, the pope or influential figures in the hierarchy.
- Clandestine involvement in worldly politics and finance, justified as a way of advancing the interests of the church.

Slowly, Benedict XVI has tried to move people who embody a more transparent and less nakedly ambitious way of doing business into key positions. The question is, Has this gradual reform hit a brick wall? If it's dying the death of a thousand cuts, as some believe, what's the next step - to go back, or to move forward to a more aggressive phase?

To invoke an analogy from revolutionary France, is it time for the Jacobins to wrest control from the moderates?

Benedict's limited reform is based on setting a moral tone and the idea that "personnel is policy," rather than any violent purge or direct overhaul of systems and structures. It began with the ultra-powerful Secretariat of State, where the stereotype of the "prelate as Renaissance prince" tends still to have the most legs.

It's well known that Benedict's pick to run the place, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is an outsider known more for his personal devotion to the pope than as an independent powerbroker. The new "substitute," or chief of staff, Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, also never worked in the Secretariat, making him likewise a stranger to its palace intrigue. Becciu is cut from a different cloth in another sense, too. He's from the island of Sardinia, where people tend to think of themselves as quite different from mainland Italians --– quieter, more reflective, less given to schemes and theater. Supposedly, when Benedict XVI visited Sardinia in 2008, he quipped that "Sardinians aren't really Italians," which may be revealing in terms of what he thought he was doing by giving Becciu the job.

Consider, too, the three longtime friends Benedict chose to lead what he regards as the most important other Vatican offices: American Cardinal William Levada, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Congregation for Bishops; and Spanish Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Congregation for Divine Worship.

Levada and Ouellet had some previous Vatican experience, but none represents the old guard. Nobody really suspects them of financial shenanigans or building their own ecclesiastical empires, and they spend precious little time in the limelight. Levada, for instance, has been on the job since 2005, and Cañizares since 2008, yet even some full-time Vatican writers would struggle to pick either man out of a lineup because they've maintained such a low profile.

If the lone benchmarks of reform were a reputation for personal decency and not jockeying to be the next pope, you could probably declare the job finished and go home. Unfortunately, that recipe leaves two vital questions unanswered:

What about guys inside the system who aren't on the same page and who may take Benedict's detachment as carte blanche to pursue their own agenda? Prayer and purification are great, but at some point, doesn't somebody also have to make the trains run on time? It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Benedict's attempt at reform has paid a steep price for not confronting those two points head-on.

Facing that reality, three broad reactions seem possible. Each leads to a different conclusion about who might be the right choice when the time comes to elect a successor to Benedict XVI.

1. One could decide the reform was a nonstarter from the outset. In the words of Michelangelo, there's only one statue in this stone -- the Vatican is always going to have its careerists and its schemers, it's always going to have a subtext of petty turf wars and personal squabbles, so the trick is to put someone in charge who knows that world and is capable of keeping it under control. In other words, don't waste energy trying to change the place; settle for making it work.

If that's the logic, then a strong candidate for the next pope might be Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, currently prefect of the Congregation for Oriental Churches. A veteran of the curia, Sandri served as substitute under John Paul II, where he had a reputation as a strong administrator. As a bonus, he's an Argentine, so he could be presented to the world as a Latin American pope.

2. In the spirit of thinking in centuries, one could argue that Benedict's reform simply hasn't had time to work itself out, and the key is staying the course. That seemed to be the spirit of a Feb. 13 statement from Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, on the Vatileaks mess. When somebody starts launching attacks, Lombardi said, it's usually a sign that "something important is in play." The suggestion appeared to be that products of the older Vatican culture know the earth is shifting beneath their feet, and the leaks represent their way of lashing out.

Ouellet would be a compelling choice for that school of thought. He's very much like Benedict -- quiet, spiritual, given to the life of the mind. He's someone who would likely emphasize teaching and moral leadership over institutional dynamics.

3. One might conclude that Benedict's reform has its heart in the right place, but needs to be backed up by a stronger hand on the rudder. You need someone at the top who can not only set a tone, but who has the mettle to make it stick. That seems a prescription for a pope with strong credentials as a man of faith, but also experience at wrapping his hands around complex bureaucracies, with sufficient energy and fearlessness to take on the Vatican's entrenched culture.

Figure out which guy among the current crop of cardinals best fits that profile, and you'll have the "Jacobin" candidate.

(Source: John L. Allen, Jr., - NCR, All Things Catholic)

Europe still dominates College of Cardinals

With the addition of 22 new members at the consistory of February 18, the College of Cardinals now includes 213 members, of whom 125 are eligible to vote in a papal conclave.

Pope Benedict has now appointed 84 cardinals, including 63 who are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal election. Thus a bare majority of the cardinal-electors have been named by the current Pontiff.

All but 4 of the cardinals alive today were named by either Pope Benedict or his predecessor, Bl. John Paul II. Cardinals Eugenio de Araujo Sales, Luis Aponte Martinez, Paolo Arns, and William Baum were appointed by Pope Paul VI. All four of those prelates are now well above the age of 80.

The geographical distribution of the College of Cardinals remains heavily tilted toward Europe. There are 119 European cardinals, of whom 67 are electors. Thus the European cardinals account for a majority of the College, and would make up a majority in a conclave.

There are 29 cardinals from Latin America, 19 from North America (including Mexico), 20 from Asia, 17 from Africa, and 4 from Oceania. Among the cardinal-electors, 22 are from South America, 15 from North America, 11 from Africa, and 10 from Asia and Oceania.

(Source: CatholicCulture.org)

Pope Adds 22 Cardinals To Club To Elect Successor

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday 18 februari brought 22 new Catholic churchmen into the elite club of cardinals who will elect his successor, in a greatly simplified ceremony that took account of evidence the 84-year-old pontiff is slowing down.

Benedict presided over a ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica to formally create the 22 cardinals, who include the archbishops of New York, Prague, Hong Kong and Toronto as well as the heads of several Vatican offices.

Preparations for the ceremony have been clouded by embarrassing leaks of internal documents alleging financial mismanagement in Vatican affairs, and reports in the Italian media of political jockeying among church officials who, sensing an increasingly weak pontiff, are already preparing for a conclave.

None of that was on display Saturday, however, amid the pomp of the consistory that brought to 125 the number of cardinals under age 80 who are thus eligible to vote in a papal election.

That said, each of the new cardinals did make a solemn pledge to keep church secrets upon accepting their new title, ring and three-pointed red hat, or biretta, from the pope.

Reciting the cardinals' traditional oath of loyalty, each one pledged to remain faithful to the church and to "not to make known to anyone matters entrusted to me in confidence, the disclosure of which could bring damage or dishonor to Holy Church."

Benedict was wheeled into St. Peter's Basilica aboard the moving platform he has been using for several months to spare him the long walk down the center aisle. Benedict, who turns 85 in April, spoke in a strong voice as he told the cardinals they will be called upon to advise him on the problems facing the church.

In remarks at the start of the service, Benedict recalled that the red color of the three-pointed hat, or biretta, and the scarlet cassock that cardinals wear symbolizes the blood that cardinals must be willing to shed to remain faithful to the church. "The new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters even unto shedding their blood, if necessary," Benedict said.

Benedict has been slowing down recently. His upcoming trip to Mexico and Cuba, for example, is very light on public appearances, with no political speeches or meetings with civil society planned as has been the norm to date. Even Saturday's consistory was greatly trimmed back to a slimmer version of the service used in 1969: only one of the cardinals actually read his oath of loyalty aloud, while the others read it silently to themselves simultaneously. A reading was cut out, as was a responsorial psalm.

At the end of his remarks, Benedict said: "And pray for me, that I may continually offer to the people of God the witness of sound doctrine and guide the holy church with a firm and humble hand."

Of the 22 new cardinals, seven are Italian, adding to the eight voting-age Italian cardinals named at the last consistory in November 2010. As of Saturday, Italy will have 30 cardinals out of the 125 under age 80.

That boosts Italy's chances of taking back the papacy for one of its own following decades under a Polish and a German pope, or at least playing the kingmaker role if an Italian papabile, or papal candidate, doesn't emerge.

Only the United States comes close, with 12 cardinals under 80, including New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Cardinal-designate Edwin O'Brien, the former archbishop of Baltimore who is now grand master of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher, which raises money for the church in the Holy Land.

The consistory class of 2012 is heavily European, reinforcing Europe's dominance of the College of Cardinals, even though two-thirds of the world's Catholics are in the southern hemisphere. All but three of the new under-80 cardinals come from the West, along with a Brazilian, an Indian and a Chinese.

(Sources: NPR/AP)

Pope appoints 22 new cardinals

Pope Benedict appointed 22 new cardinals at the Vatican on Saturday, with his choices for the lofty role likely to influence who will be appointed as the next pontiff. The Vatican named the new cardinals last month, but they were officially inducted by the pontiff in a special ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica. Among those to be elevated to the College of Cardinals are New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, cementing his standing as the top Catholic in the United States, and Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore.

Others include Archbishop Thomas Collins, from Toronto, as well as the Bishop of Hong Kong, John Tong Hon, and Major Archbishop George Alencherry from India. Senior clerics from Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania and Brazil are also represented, as well as several from Italy.

The College of Cardinals was established in 1150. Its main role is to advise the current Pope and pick his successor. "This is the most exclusive club in the Catholic Church," said John Allen, CNN's Vatican analyst. "In many cases, you also become, at least informally, a candidate to be the next pope, because the next pope will almost certainly come from the roughly 120 cardinals under the age of 80."

Once a cardinal reaches 80, he is no longer able to participate in the election of the pope or enter the secret conclave where cardinals gather when the time comes to select the next pope, typically upon the prior pope's death.

The new cardinals each professed their faith and swore an oath of obedience to Pope Benedict and his successors during Saturday's ceremony, called the Consistory, at the Vatican. They then walked one by one to the pontiff and knelt in front of him to receive the traditional red hat, or "biretta" and gold ring, and a document with the name of the cardinal's titular church in Rome.

In his address, Benedict said that in joining the College of Cardinals, the clerics would "be united with new and stronger bonds not only to the Roman Pontiff but also to the entire community of the faithful spread throughout the world." Emphasizing the importance of service over self-interest, the pontiff said the red of the cardinals' hats was symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice they would make if required.

"The new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his Church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters, even unto shedding their blood, if necessary, as expressed in the words of placing the biretta and as indicated by the color of their robes," he said.

(Source:CNN)

Creating cardinals: Ceremony features something old, new, borrowed, red

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something red will be part of the mix Feb. 18 when Pope Benedict XVI creates new cardinals. The general format of the consistory has been maintained, but the ceremony has been modified and will include the use of prayers borrowed from ancient Roman liturgies. Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan will even address the College of Cardinals on the subject of new evangelization.

And, of course, red will be the color of the day as the new cardinals are reminded that they are called to give their lives to God and the church, even to the point of shedding their blood.

Tradition and innovation, solemnity and festivity, high honor and a call to sacrifice are key parts of the creation of new cardinals.

The hushed moment when a churchman kneels before the pope and receives his red hat as a cardinal contrasts sharply with the mood in the Apostolic Palace that same evening when the public -- literally anyone who wants to come -- is invited in to congratulate the new cardinals.

Pope Benedict will create 21 new cardinals in the morning during an "ordinary public consistory" in St. Peter's Basilica. For reasons of health, the 22nd cardinal-designate, German Jesuit Father Karl Josef Becker, 83, will not attend the ceremony and will be made a cardinal "privately at some other time," said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

The evening of the consistory, the Bronze Doors will open and the public will be allowed to swarm up the Scala Regia -- the royal stairway -- and into the Apostolic Palace to meet and greet the new cardinals.

A consistory is a gathering of cardinals with the pope. According to canon law, an ordinary consistory is called for consultation or for the celebration "of especially solemn acts," such as the creation of new cardinals or a vote approving the canonization of candidates for sainthood.

And, in fact, the consistory Feb. 18 will include both. Immediately after the new cardinals are created, all the "princes of the church" are scheduled to vote on several new saints -- including Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha -- Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told Catholic News Service Feb. 1.

Normally, the public consistory for new saints is attended by cardinals living in Rome, but the creation of new cardinals is an opportunity for all of them to exercise their role as advisers to the pope.

This will be the fourth time Pope Benedict has created new cardinals and will bring his total to 84 cardinals, of whom 79 are still alive; 63 of his appointees in the College of Cardinals will be under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.

Like the consistories he held in 2007 and in 2010, the February ceremony will be preceded by a daylong meeting of the pope with the College of Cardinals and the cardinals-designate. The Vatican said the theme will be "Proclaiming the Gospel today, between 'missio ad gentes' and new evangelization" with Cardinal-designate Dolan of New York opening the meeting.

The three-cornered, red biretta the pope will place on the new cardinals' heads is traditional, but the ceremony for the 2012 consistory has been changed.

In early January, the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reported, "The rite used up to now has been revised and simplified with the approval of the Holy Father," in part to avoid any impression that becoming a cardinal is a sacrament like ordination.

But two ordinations will precede the consistory. Three of the new cardinals named by Pope Benedict are priests, not bishops.

Church law says new cardinals must have been ordained at least to the priesthood and should be ordained bishops before entering the College of Cardinals. However, in recent decades, many of the elderly priests named to the college as a sign of esteem and gratitude for their service to the church have requested, and received, an exemption from episcopal ordination.

Maltese Augustinian Father Prosper Grech, an 86-year-old biblical theologian and one of the co-founders of Rome's Augustinian Patristical Institute, was scheduled to be ordained a bishop Feb. 8 in Malta. Belgian Father Julien Ries, 91, an expert on the history of religions, told CNS he would be ordained a bishop Feb. 11 in Belgium. On the other hand, in keeping with the Jesuit promise not to strive for any dignity in the church, Father Becker, a retired professor at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, said he would become a cardinal without becoming a bishop.

Another small change made to the consistory this year involves timing. The prelates will receive their cardinals' rings from Pope Benedict during the consistory, rather than at the Mass they will concelebrate with the pope Feb. 19. And, as customary, during the consistory they also will receive their assignments of a "titular church" in Rome, making them formally members of the Rome diocesan clergy, which is what the church's first cardinals were.

Once the new cardinals are created, the College of Cardinals will have a record-high number of members. The total number of princes of the church will reach 213, surpassing the total of 203 reached with the consistory in 2010. As recently as 2001, the total number of cardinals dipped to 139 just before Pope John Paul II named a record 44 cardinals at once.

(Source: Catholic News Service)

Le Collège des cardinaux compte 191 cardinaux dont 107 électeurs

À l’approche du quatrième Consistoire convoqué par Benoît XVI le 18 février prochain pour la création de 22 nouveaux cardinaux, le collège des cardinaux a subi une modification le mercredi 1er février après le décès du cardinal Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua, archevêque émérite de Philadelphie aux États-Unis. À ce jour, le Collège des cardinaux compte donc 191 cardinaux, dont 107 électeurs et 84 non électeurs.

Lors du prochain consistoire, 22 nouveaux cardinaux seront créés dont 18 électeurs. Quatre prélats ne sont pas appelés à voter, en cas de conclave, ayant plus de 80 ans.
« Comme chacun le sait, a expliqué le Pape en annonçant le 6 janvier dernier la tenue du consistoire, les cardinaux ont le devoir d’aider le successeur de Pierre dans l’accomplissement de son ministère, de confirmer les frères dans la foi et d’être principe et fondement de l’unité et de la communion de l’Église ».
Lors des consistoires de mars 2006, novembre 2007 et novembre 2010, Benoît XVI avait déjà créé 62 cardinaux, dont 50 avaient alors moins de 80 ans, donc électeurs.
(Source: Radio Vatican)

The new cardinals

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Jan. 6 the creation of 22 new cardinals, including 18 under the age of 80 and hence eligible to elect the next pope. Given that the bulk are Vatican officials (10), Italians (seven) and Europeans (13), news reports styled it as a crop reinforcing the conservative, and curial, stranglehold on the College of Cardinals.

First of all, this isn't likely to be a celebrated consistory on the Catholic right. This isn't the crop of November 2010, which featured conservative lions such as Cardinals Raymond Burke of the United States and Malcolm Ranjith of Sri Lanka. Instead, this group is composed mostly of ecclesial equivalents of Mitt Romney, meaning center-right pragmatists who inspire little ideological fervor.

Consider Archbishop Dominik Duka of Prague, a Dominican and a biblical scholar. Duka reportedly has called the older Latin Mass "a Baroque artifact for Baroque times" and has signaled openness to in-vitro fertilization if the destruction of embryos could be avoided. Archbishop Giuseppe Betori of Florence has tried to heal the historical divide between the progressive and conservative camps among Italian laity, and for his trouble, a traditionalist commentator has labeled Betori a "paleo-liberal," charging that he's part of a subterranean bloc of cardinals opposed to Benedict XVI. There's also Brazilian Archbishop João Bráz de Aviz at the Congregation for Religious, a friend of the Focolare who's had a good relationship through the years with the liberation theology movement in Latin America.

These guys may not be anybody's idea of a flaming liberal, but they're also not hardcore conservatives.

Second, the assumption that naming a lot of Italians and Vatican officials automatically makes the College of Cardinals more "Roman," in the sense of more insular and less in touch with the wider world, is open to question.

Take, for instance, Italian Archbishops Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and Giuseppe Bertello, president of the government of the Vatican city-state. Both are veteran diplomats who have served all over the world. Filoni was assigned at various points to Sri Lanka, Iran, Brazil, Jordan, Iraq and the Philippines, in addition to spending 1992-2001 in Hong Kong heading up a study mission on China. Bertello has served in Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, Mexico, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Rwanda.

To be clear, these weren't pleasure cruises. Filoni was in Baghdad in April 2003 when the U.S.-led invasion began, while Bertello was in Rwanda in 1994 at the height of the genocide. As most Western diplomats fled, Filoni and Bertello both stayed on the job, insisting they couldn't abandon the local church or the missionaries. Both won high marks for their humanitarian and diplomatic efforts, even if both were ultimately powerless to stop the bloodshed unfolding around them.

In the abstract, is it really the case that Italians and Vatican officials such as Filoni and Bertello are bound to have a more narrow outlook than, say, a residential prelate from North America or Africa who's rarely traveled outside his comfort zone?

If you want an actual newsflash from this consistory, Filoni and Bertello hint at the headline: "Triumph of the Diplomats."

Five of the 18 new cardinal-electors named by Benedict XVI -- notably, the first five names on the list -- come out of the Vatican diplomatic corps. In addition to Filoni and Bertello, the former diplomats include:

- Portuguese Archbishop Manuel Monteiro de Castro, now running a Vatican court, who's previously served in the Antilles, El Salvador, Honduras and South Africa;
Spanish Archbishop Santos Abril y Castelló, who replaced Cardinal Bernard Law as Archpriest of St. Mary Major after spending much of his career in Cameroon, Bolivia, Argentina and Slovenia; and
- Italian Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, currently heading the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees, who's spent time in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Lebanon and Kuwait.

All this is striking in light of the traditional Vatican rivalry between the two heavyweight departments that tend to dominate the place, the Secretariat of State and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In oversimplified terms, it's a contrast between diplomats and theologians -- between outward-looking figures focused on geopolitics and dialogue, and more inward-looking figures concerned with Catholic identity and doctrinal fidelity. (In theory, of course, these two instincts can be complementary, so the tension is usually a question of where one puts the emphasis.)

The 2005 election of Benedict XVI, whose previous job had been running the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for a quarter-century, was seen as a big win for the theologians. When the new pope tapped a former aide from the doctrinal office, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, as his Secretary of State, it seemed to put a slammer on that conclusion.

In that light, the consistory of 2012 shapes up as a good day for the diplomats -- and, perhaps, for the cosmopolitan, dialogue-oriented and practical mentality long associated with the world's oldest diplomatic corps. How that plays out in practice remains to be seen, but it's at least a fresh question to ponder.

(Source: John L. Allen Jr, in - NCR, jan. 20, 2012)

The Church’s new princes

In five weeks’ time, Pope Benedict XVI will create 22 new cardinals in the fourth consistory of his pontificate, 18 of whom will be eligible to vote in the next conclave to choose a new Pope. So who are those swelling the elite ranks of the Church?

If there were any doubts before last week, it is now clear to many that Pope Benedict XVI wants to keep the papacy firmly in the hands of the Europeans.

The Vatican’s announcement last week that Pope is to create 22 new cardinals in a consistory on 18 February revealed that nearly three-quarters of those receiving a red hat are from Europe (seven alone from Italy). The remainder of the appointments
in this the fourth consistory of the Ratzinger pontificate include three new cardinals from North America, two from Asia and one from Brazil. Four of those appointed are beyond the age of 80 and so ineligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new Pope.

Ten of the new cardinals are currently in charge of Roman Curia or Rome-based offices that, by long-standing custom, are almost always headed by a cardinal. Several in this year’s group were named to their posts as a reward for a lifetime of service

to the Holy See. Others are in a position, such as head of a congregation, where it is considered essential that he be of the highest ecclesiastical rank. The remainder are those who are residential bishops heading major archdioceses that are traditionally headed by cardinals.

As of 18 February there will be 125 cardinal-electors, five beyond the ceiling of 120set by Pope Paul VI. And for the first time, now standing at 63 those created by Benedict XVI will outnumber by one those created by Blessed John Paul II. In the course of nearly seven years as Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict will have created a total of 68 cardinal-electors, although three of these have already lost their vote by turning 80 and two others have died. He will have named 39 of the current 67 European electors (and 21 of the 30 Italians), but only six of the 22 voters from Latin America.

Significantly, 43 of the 125 electors are heads or retired heads of Roman offices, while another 14 residential cardinals once worked for the Vatican as priests. This puts the Curia voting bloc at 57 members. It is not apparent that this group, the Italian bloc or the European coalition as a whole is united enough to ensure the election of one of its members. But these distinct interest groups will all be determinant in choosing a compromise candidate who becomes the next pope.

(Source: Robert Mickens, - The Tablet, 14 January 2012)

Modifications to Rites for the Creation of new Cardinals

The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has introduced certain modifications to the ordinary public consistories for the creation of new cardinals. The rites followed until now have been revised and simplified, with the Holy Father's approval. The modifications chiefly involve the unification of the three phases: the imposition of the biretta, the consignment of the ring and the assignation of the title or diaconate. The collect and the concluding prayer have been modified, and the proclamation of the Word of God made shorter.

On 6 January Benedict XVI announced his intention to create twenty-two new members of the College of Cardinals, on 18 February, in what will be the fourth consistory of his pontificate.

In its announcement the Office of Liturgical Celebrations explains that the liturgical reform which began with Vatican Council II also covered the rites for imposing the biretta and assigning a title to new cardinals during consistories, and that the modified form of the celebration was first used by Paul VI in April 1969. In preparing those new rites the main criterion adopted was that of giving a liturgical setting to a process which, of itself, is not part of the liturgy. The creation of new cardinals had to be inserted into a context of prayer, while at the same time avoiding anything that could give rise to the idea of a "cardinalatial Sacrament". Historically speaking, in fact, consistories have never been considered as a liturgical rite but as a meeting of the Pope with cardinals as part of the governance of the Church.

Bearing in mind these historical aspects, and in continuity with the current form and main elements of consistories, the existing practice has been reviewed and simplified. In the first place, the collect and concluding prayer of the 1969 rite have been recouped, because they are particularly rich and derive from the great Roman tradition of prayer. The two prayers, in fact, speak explicitly of the powers the Lord gave to the Church, in particular that of Peter. The Pope also prays directly for himself, that he may carry out his duties well.

The proclamation of the Word of God will also take a shorter form, as used in the 1969 rite, with a single Gospel reading (Mk 10, 32-45) which is the same in the two rites. Finally, the consignment of the cardinalatial ring will be integrated into a single rite. Prior to the 1969 reform, the red hat was imposed during the public consistory, which was followed by a secret consistory in which the ring was consigned and the title or diaconate assigned. Nowadays the distinction between public and secret consistory is no longer observed and it was deemed more coherent to bring the three phases of the creation of new cardinals together into a single rite. What remains unchanged is the following day's concelebration of Mass by the Pope and the new cardinals, which begins with an expression of homage and gratitude addressed to the Pope by the first of the new cardinals in the name of all the others.

(Source: VIS)

Naming of New Cardinals Prompts Speculation About Next Pope

Pope Benedict XVI has increased the likelihood that his successor will come from Europe and that he will be an Italian after he named a relatively large number of European prelates as cardinals last week.

The Pope announced Friday he was naming 22 new cardinals to join him as his closest advisers and to be electors of popes. He will formally elevate them to the Sacred College of Cardinals — essentially a papal senate — at a Vatican consistory on February 18.

Sixteen of the 22 are European and seven are Italian. Apart from one new cardinal from Brazil, none was chosen from the Southern hemisphere, despite the faith growing at its fastest pace in Africa, and Latin America being home to half of the world's Catholics.

Europeans will now number over half of all cardinal-electors (67 out of 125), and nearly a quarter of all voters in a conclave will be Italian. This is leading to speculation that the papacy could return to the Italians — a tradition that went unbroken from 1522 until the election of Polish Pope John Paul II in 1978.

Pope Benedict's fourth consistory will, in any case, mark a significant milestone: For the first time, the number of “Princes of the Church” he has appointed who remain under 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave will exceed the number of those appointed by Blessed Pope John Paul II (63 versus 62).

Benedict XVI has therefore now put his own definitive stamp on the future governance of the Church and, in particular, made a significant step toward lining up his successor.

One notable development is the re-Italianization of the Curia. All but one of the new Italian cardinals appointed Friday were heads of Vatican departments, leading some Vatican observers to express surprise that a German Pontiff would tap so many Italians to have leading positions in the Curia. His predecessor, John Paul II, made concerted efforts to internationalize the Vatican, albeit with a distinctly Polish emphasis.

But when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict served nearly 25 years in the Curia and so he knows and feels comfortable with its predominantly Italian culture.

In addition, it remains an unwritten rule that heads of Vatican departments are usually made cardinal at the earliest opportunity. As Benedict XVI had already chosen mostly Italians for these posts, they naturally were in line for a “red hat.”

Many Vatican commentators also put the large number of Italian appointments down to the influence of the Pope's deputy, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, whose hand in these nominations, they say, is clearly visible.

But this is likely to be a passing phase now that nearly all the senior Curia positions are filled and the heads of these Vatican departments have red hats.

Two more important Curial appointments — to the Vatican's doctrinal office and to the Secretary of State (Bertone's office) — are the only major Curial appointments remaining over the next year or so, meaning that any future consistory of new cardinals will doubtless revert to prominent diocesan bishops from Latin America, Asia, Africa or the Middle East.

Still, this hasn't prevented some from criticising the Pope for making the latest batch of new cardinals too eurocentric. “We now have a Church which has a growing number of young people and Africans, but guided by a group of old European cardinals,” said one Church source.

The Pope's supporters, however, say his emphasis on Europe is unsurprising as it is consistent with his overall vision: one which sees restoration of the faith to the old continent as vital to the spread of the faith worldwide. From the outset of his pontificate, Benedict XVI pledged to dedicate himself to that end, and took the name of Benedict in part to honor St. Benedict of Nursia, the patron of Europe.

Furthermore, the Church cannot be compared with how other international institutions function such as the United Nations.

“The red hat is not distributed according to geopolitical or regional reasons,” explained veteran Italian Vatican watcher Andrea Tornielli, “and the massive presence of Catholics in a country or continent does not of course entitle it to red hats, and even less, seats in a conclave.”

It's too early to say whether any of the new intake are papabile — leading contenders to be Pope. But among them are two respected American Church leaders who could one day be considered for the See of Peter: Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, and Archbishop Edwin O'Brien who currently heads a Vatican Order dating back to the Crusades that offers assistance to the Church in the Holy Land.

They bring the total number of cardinals from the United States eligible to vote in a conclave to 12, or nearly 10 percent of the total number of cardinal-electors.

Canada also had a new cardinal named on Friday: Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, bringing Canada's total to three. His colleague, Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Quebec, remains one of the leading contenders to succeed Benedict XVI.

(Source: Newsmax)

Le Collège des cardinaux au 18 février 2012

Entre parenthèses figurent l’année de naissance de chaque cardinal et son siège ou sa fonction actuels ; en majuscules, les XXX cardinaux électeurs (âgés de moins de 80 ans le 18 février prochain). Les chiffres sont ceux des cardinaux par continent et par pays (dont, entre parenthèses, le nombre d’électeurs)

EUROPE = 119 (67)

Allemagne = 9 (6)
Électeurs : Paul Josef CORDES (1934, ex-Curie), Walter KASPER (1933, ex-Curie), Karl LEHMANN (1936, Mayence), Reinhardt MARX (1953, Munich), Joachim MEISNER (1933, Cologne), Rainer Maria WOELKI (1956, Berlin).
Non électeurs : Karl Becker (1928, théologien), Walter Brandmüller (1929, ex-Curie), Friedrich Wetter (1928, ex-Munich).

Autriche = 1 (1)
É. : Christoph SCHÖNBORN (1945, Vienne).

Belgique = 2 (1)
É. : Godfried DANNEELS (1933, ex-Malines-Bruxelles).
N. É. : Julien Ries (1920, théologien)

Bosnie-Herzégovine = 1 (1)
É. : Vinko PULJIC (1945, Vrhbosna-Sarajevo).

Croatie = 1 (1)
É. : Josip BOZANIC (1949, Zagreb).

Espagne = 10 (5)
É. : Carlos AMIGO VALLEJO (1934, Séville), Antonio CAÑIZARES LLOVERA (1945, Tolède), Lluis MARTINEZ SISTACH (1937, Barcelone), Antonio Maria ROUCO VARELA (1936, Madrid), Santos ABRIL y CASTELLO (1935, Curie).
N.É. : Julián Herranz Casado (1930, ex-Curie), Ricardo Maria Carles Gordo (1926, ex-Barcelone), José Manuel Estepa Llaurens (1926, ex-Armées), Francisco Alvarez Martinez (1925, ex-Tolède), Eduardo Martinez Somalo (1927, ex-Curie)

France = 9 (4)
É. : Philippe BARBARIN (1950, Lyon), Jean-Pierre RICARD (1944, Bordeaux), Jean-Louis TAURAN (1943, Curie), André VINGT-TROIS (1942, Paris).
N.É. : Roger Etchegaray (1922, ex-Curie), Jean Honoré (1920, ex-Tours), Bernard Panafieu (1931, ex-Marseille), Paul Poupard (1930, ex-Curie), Albert Vanhoye (1923, théologien).

Grande-Bretagne = 2 (2)
É. : Cormac MURPHY-O’CONNOR (1932, ex-Westminster), Keith Michael Patrick O’BRIEN (1938, Édimbourg).

Hongrie = 2 (1)
É. : Péter ERDÖ (1952, Esztergom-Budapest).
N.É. : Laszlo Paskai (1927, ex-Esztergom-Budapest).

Irlande = 2 (1)
É. : Sean BRADY (1939, Armagh).
N.É. : Desmond Connell (1926, ex-Dublin).

Italie = 52 (30)
É. : Angelo AMATO (1938, Curie), Ennio ANTONELLI (1936, Curie), Angelo BAGNASCO (1943, Gênes), Fortunato BALDELLI (1935, Curie), Giuseppe BERTELLO (1942, Curie), Tarcisio BERTONE (1934, Curie), Giuseppe BETORI (1947, Florence), Carlo CAFFARRA (1938, Bologne), Domenico CALCAGNO (1943, Curie), Francesco COCCOPALMERIO (1938, Curie), Angelo COMASTRI (1943, Curie), Velasio DE PAOLIS (1935, Curie), Raffaele FARINA (1933, Curie), Fernando FILONI (1946, Curie), Giovanni LAJOLO (1935, ex-Curie), Renato MARTINO (1932, ex-Curie), Mauro PIACENZA (1944, Curie), Francesco MONTERISI (1934, Curie), Attilio NICORA (1937, Curie), Severino POLETTO (1933, ex-Turin), Gianfranco RAVASI (1942, Curie), Giovanni Battista RE (1934, ex-Curie), Paolo ROMEO (1938, Palerme), Paolo SARDI (1934, Curie), Angelo SCOLA (1941, Milan), Crescenzio SEPE (1943, Naples), Dionigi TETTAMANZI (1934, ex-Milan), Agostino VALLINI (1940, Curie), Antonio Maria VEGLIO (1938, Curie), Giuseppe VERSALDI (1943, Curie).
N.É. : Fiorenzo Angelini (1916, ex-Curie), Lorenzo Antonetti (1922, ex-Curie), Domenico Bartolucci (1917, ex-Curie), Giacomo Biffi (1928, ex-Bologne), Agostino Cacciavillan (1926, ex-Curie), Giovanni Canestri (1918, ex-Gênes), Marco Cé (1925, ex-Venise), Giovanni Cheli (1918, ex-Curie), Giovanni Coppa (1925, ex-nonce), Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (1925, ex-nonce), Salvatore De Giorgi (1930, ex-Palerme), Carlo Furno (1921, ex-nonce), Francesco Marchisano (1929, ex-Curie), Carlo Maria Martini (1927, ex-Milan), Silvano Piovanelli (1924, ex-Florence), Camillo Ruini (1931, ex-Rome), Sergio Sebastiani (1931, ex-Curie), Elio Sgreccia (1928, ex-Curie), Achille Silvestrini (1923, ex-Curie), Angelo Sodano (1927, ex-Curie), Ersilio Tonini (1914, ex-Ravenne), Roberto Tucci (1921, ex-Curie).

Lettonie = 1 (0)
N.É. : Janis Pujats (1930, Riga).

Lituanie = 1 (1)
É. : Audrys Juozas BACKIS (1937, Vilnius).

Malte = 1 (0)
N. É. : Prosper Grech (1925, théologien)

Pays-Bas = 2 (1)
É. : Willem Jacobus EIJK (1953, Utrecht)
N.É. : Adrianus Johannes Simonis (1931, ex-Utrecht).

Pologne = 8 (4)
É. : Stanislaw DZIWISZ (1939, Cracovie), Zenon GROCHOLEWSKI (1939, Curie), Kazimierz NYCZ (1950, Varsovie), Stanislaw RYLKO (1945, Curie).
N.É. : Jozef Glemp (1929, ex-Varsovie), Henryk Roman Gulbinowicz (1923, ex-Wroclaw), Franciszek Macharski (1927, ex-Cracovie), Stanislaw Nagy (1921, théologien).

Portugal = 3 (2)
É. : Manuel MONTEIRO de CASTRO (1938, Curie), José da Cruz POLICARPO (1936, Lisbonne).
N.É. : José Saraiva Martins (1932, ex-Curie).

Roumanie = 1 (0)
N.É. : Lucian MURESAN (1931, Alba Iulia des roumains)

Slovaquie = 2 (0)
N.É. : Jan Chryzostom Korec (1924, ex-Nitra), Jozef Tomko (1924, ex-Curie).

Slovénie = 1 (1)
É. : Franc RODÉ (1934, ex-Curie).

Suisse = 4 (2)
É. : Kurt KOCH (1950, Curie), Henri SCHWERY (1932, ex-Sion).
N.É. : Gilberto Agustoni (1922, ex-Curie), Georges-Marie Cottier (1922, théologien).

Tchèque (Rép.) = 2 (2)
É. : Dominik DUKA (1943, Prague), Miloslav VLK (1932, ex-Prague).

Ukraine = 2 (1)
É. : Lubomyr HUSAR (1933, ex-Kiev-Galicie).
N.É. : Marian Jaworski (1926, ex-Lviv des latins).

Amérique du Nord = 22 (15)

Canada = 3 (3)
É. : Thomas Christopher COLLINS (1947, Toronto), Marc OUELLET (1944, Curie), Jean-Claude TURCOTTE (1936, Montréal).

États-Unis = 19 (12)
É. : Raymond Leo BURKE (1948, Curie), Daniel DiNARDO (1949, Galveston-Houston), Timothy Michael DOLAN (1950, New York), Edward Michael EGAN (1932, New York), Francis Eugene GEORGE (1937, Chicago), William Joseph LEVADA (1936, Curie), Roger Michael MAHONY (1936, ex-Los Angeles), Edwin O’BRIEN (1939, Curie), Sean Patrick O’MALLEY (1944, Boston), Justin Francis RIGALI (1935, ex-Philadelphie), James Francis STAFFORD (1932, Curie), Donald William WUERL (1940, Washington).
N.É. : William Wakefield Baum (1926, ex-Curie), Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua (1923, ex-Philadelphie), William Henry Keeler (1931, ex-Baltimore), Bernard Francis Law (1931, ex-Boston), Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930, ex-Washington), Adam Joseph Maida (1930, Detroit), Edmund Casimir Szoka (1927, ex-Curie).

Amérique latine = 32 (22)

Argentine = 4 (2)
É. : Jorge Mario BERGOGLIO (1936, Buenos Aires), Leonardo SANDRI (1943, Curie).
N.É. : Estanislao Esteban Karlic (1926, ex-Parana), Jorge Maria Mejia (1923, ex-Curie).

Bolivie = 1 (1)
É. : Julio TERRAZAS SANDOVAL (1936, Santa Cruz de la Sierra).

Brésil = 10 (6)
É. : Geraldo Majella AGNELO (1933, ex-Sao Salvador de Bahia), Raymundo Damasceno ASSIS (1937, Aparecida), Joao BRAZ de AVIZ (1947, Curie), Claudio HUMMES (1934, Curie), Eusebio Oscar SCHEID (1932, Rio de Janeiro), Odilo Pedro SCHERER (1949, Sao Paulo).
N.É. : Paulo Evaristo Arns (1921, ex-Sao Paulo), José Freire Falcao (1925, ex-Brasilia), Serafim Fernandes de Araujo (1924, ex-Belo Horizonte), Eugenio de Araujo Sales (1920, ex-Rio de Janeiro).

Chili = 2 (1)
É. : Francisco Javier ERRAZURIZ OSSA (1933, ex-Santiago),
N.É. : Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez (1926, ex-Curie).

Colombie = 2 (1)
É. : Pedro RUBIANO SAENZ (1932, Bogota).
N.E. : Dario Castrillon Hoyos (1929, ex-Curie).

Cuba = 1 (1)
É. : Jaime Lucas ORTEGA Y ALAMINO (1936, La Havane).

Équateur = 1 (1)
É. : Raúl Eduardo VELA CHIRIBOGA (1934, ex-Quito).

Guatemala = 1 (1)
É. : Rodolpho QUEZADA TORUNO (1932, Guatemala).

Honduras = 1 (1)
É. : Oscar Andrès RODRIGUEZ MARADIAGA (1942, Tegucigalpa).

Mexique = 4 (4)
É. : Javier LOZANO BARRAGAN (1933, Curie), Norberto RIVERA CARRERA (1942, Mexico), Francisco ROBLES ORTEGA (1949, Guadalajara), Juan SANDOVAL INIGUEZ (1933, ex-Guadalajara).

Nicaragua = 1 (0)
N.É. : Miguel OBANDO BRAVO (1926, ex-Managua).

Pérou = 1 (1)
É. : Juan Luis CIPRIANI THORNE (1943, Lima).

Porto Rico = 1 (0)
N.É. : Luis Aponte Martinez (1922, ex-Porto-Rico).

Saint-Domingue = 1 (1)
É. : Nicolas de Jesus LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ (1936, Saint-Domingue).

Venezuela = 1 (1)
É. : Jorge Liberato UROSA SAVINO (1942, Caracas).

Afrique = 17 (11)

Afrique du Sud = 1 (1)
É. : Wilfrid Fox NAPIER (1941, Durban).

Angola = 1 (0)
N.É. : Alexandre Do Nascimento (1925, ex-Luanda).

Cameroun = 1 (0)
N.É. : Christian Wiyghan Tumi (1930, ex-Douala).

Côte d’Ivoire = 1 (0)
N.É. : Bernard Agré (1926, ex-Abidjan).

Égypte = 1 (1)
É. : Antonios NAGUIB (1935, Alexandrie des coptes).

Ghana = 1 (1)
É. : Peter Kodwo Appiah TURKSON (1948, Cape Coast).

Guinée = 1 (1)
É. : Robert SARAH (1945, Curie).

Kenya = 1 (1)
É. : John NJUE (1944, Nairobi).

Mozambique = 1 (0)
N.É. : Alexandre José Maria Dos Santos (1924, ex-Maputo).

Nigeria = 2 (2)
É. : Francis ARINZE (1932, ex-Curie), Antoni Olubunimi OKOGIE (1936, Lagos).

Ouganda = 1 (0)
N.É. : Emmanuel Wamala (1926, ex-Kampala).

RD-Congo = 1 (1)
É. : Laurent PASINYA MONSENGWO (1939, Kinshasa).

Sénégal = 1 (1)
É. : Théodore-Adrien SARR (1936, Dakar).

Soudan = 1 (1)
É. : Gabriel ZUBEIR WAKO (1941, Khartoum).

Tanzanie = 1 (1)
É. : Polycarp PENGO (1944, Dar-Es-Salaam).

Zambie = 1 (0)
N. É. : Medardo Joseph Mazombwe (1931, ex-Lusaka).

Asie = 20 (9)

Chine = 2 (1)
É. : John TONG HON (1939, Hong Kong).
N. É. : Joseph Zen Ze-kiun (1932, ex-Hong Kong).

Corée = 1 (0)
N. É. : Nicolas Cheong-Jin-Suk (1931, Séoul).

Inde = 6 (4)
É. : Georges ALENCHERRY (1945, Ernakulam-Angamaly des syro-malabars), Ivan DIAS (1936, ex-Curie), Oswald GRACIAS (1944, Bombay), Telesphore Placidus TOPPO (1939, Ranchi).
N.É. : Simon Lourdusamy (1924, ex-Curie), Simon Ignatius Pimenta (1920, ex-Bombay).

Indonésie = 1 (1)
É. : Julius Riyadi DARMAATMADJA (1934, ex-Djakarta).

Irak = 1 (0)
N.É. : Emmanuel III Delly (1927, Babylone des chaldéens).

Liban = 1 (0)
N.É. : Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir (1920, ex-Antioche des Maronites).

Philippines = 3 (1)
É. : Gaudencio B. ROSALES (1932, ex-Manille).
N.É. : José Sanchez (1920, ex-Curie), Ricardo Vidal (1931, ex-Cebu)

Sri Lanka 1 (1)
É. : Malcolm RANJITH (1947, Colombo).

Syrie = 1 (0)
N.É. : Ignace Moussa DAOUD (1930, ex-Curie).

Taiwan = 1 (0)
N.É. : Paul Shan Kuo-hsi (1923, ex-Kaohsiung).

Thaïlande = 1 (0)
N.É. : Michael Michai KITBUNCHU (1929, ex-Bangkok).

Vietnam = 1 (1)
É. : Jean-Baptiste PHAM MINH MAN (1934, Hô-Chi-Minh Ville).
Océanie = 4 (1)
Australie = 3 (1)
É. : George PELL (1941, Sydney).
N.É. : Edward Idris Cassidy (1924, ex-Curie), Edward Bede Clancy (1923, ex-Sydney),

Nouvelle-Zélande = 1 (0)
É. : Thomas Stafford WILLIAMS (1930, ex-Wellington).

(Source: La Croix, 6 janvier 2012)