Focusing on the catholicity of the Church as his theme, Pope
Benedict XVI created six new Cardinals during a consistory held at St. Peter’s
Basilica in Rome, November 24.
Through
the words “I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church” which they
professed during the consistory the new cardinals proclaimed their solemn
fidelity to the one Church founded by Jesus Christ.
“Only
by professing and preserving this rule of truth intact can we be authentic
disciples of the Lord,” the pope said in his homily.
Pope
Benedict on November 24, eve of the Solemnity of Christ the King, bestowed the
red hat and ring on six new cardinals, all of them non-Europeans.
As
observers noted, the non-inclusion of Europeans among the new set of cardinals
has leveled somewhat the playing field in the College of Cardinals increasing
the number of non-European cardinal-electors to 58.
The
creation of six new cardinals raised the number of cardinal-electors, those
eligible to vote in a conclave to choose the successor of Pope Benedict to 120,
of this, 62 are Europeans.
The
six new “Princes of the Church” come from North and South America, Africa and
Asia and represents both the Latin rite and the rite of Eastern Orthodox
churches: Archbishop James M. Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household; His
Beatitude, Bechara Boutros Raï, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in Lebanon; His
Beatitude, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum in India
and head of the Syro-Malankara Church; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of
Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogotá, Colombia; and
Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.
Stressing
that the Church is not of a single group but embraces the whole of humanity,
the “universality of the Church,” the pope said, “flows from the universality
of God’s unique plan of salvation for the world.”
He
said it is “within the context and the perspective of the Church’s
universality” that the College of Cardinals is situated: “it presents a variety
of faces, because it expressed the face of the universal Church.”
“In
this Consistory, I want to highlight in particular the fact that the Church is
the Church of all peoples, and so she speaks in the various cultures of the
different continents. She is the Church of Pentecost: amid the polyphony of the
various voices, she raises a single harmonious song to the living God,” the
pope said.
With
their elevation to cardinals, the new princes of the church were given titular
churches in Rome to indicate their bond and intimate link to the See of Peter.
The
pope said the rite “expresses the supreme value of fidelity”, thus reminding
the new cardinals of the significance of the consistory in the Church.
The
Cardinals during consistory are given a ring to symbolize unity, and a red
biretta to signify their willingness to die for Christ and His Church.
Kneeling
before the pope to be bestowed with the red biretta and the ring, each new
cardinal proclaimed the words, which, according to the pope have profound
spiritual and ecclesial significance: “I promise and I swear, from now on and
for as long as I live, to remain faithful to Christ and his Gospel, constantly obedient
to the Holy Apostolic Roman Church.”
The
red biretta, said the pope, is a reminder that “you must be ready to conduct
yourselves with fortitude, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase
of the Christian faith, for the peace and well-being of the people of God.”
The
pope also consigned each cardinal with a ring “accompanied by the admonition”: “Know
that your love for the Church is strengthened by your love for the Prince of
the Apostles.”
As
the pope’s closest advisers, among the main duties of the Cardinals is to call
a conclave to elect a new pope when the papacy becomes vacant. (CBCPNews)
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