Friday, February 25, 2011

French cardinal put in line for Latin announcement of new pope in event of an election

The Vatican says French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran has become the prelate who would make the announcement "Habemus Papam" (We have a pope) to the world in the event of the election of a new pontiff.

The 67-year-old Tauran is the new Proto-Deacon of the College of Cardinals, whose duties include introducing the new pope after his election.

Tauran, who heads the Vatican's office for relations with non-Christians, succeeds Italian Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan.

It was a Chilean cardinal, Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, who announced on April 19, 2005, that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected pope and taken the name Benedict XVI.