French news agency I-Media has revealed that new cardinals are
to be created in a Consistory which is to be held next 21 and 22
February.
Pope Francis is to hold a meeting with all cardinals in Rome
to discuss reforms with them.
As Vatican Insider wrote in a recent article,
120 cardinals eligible to vote according to the limit set by Paul VI.
In February 2014 there will be 14 vacancies waiting to be filled by new
cardinal electors below the age of 80 and this figure will rise to 16 at
the end of March.
So this is the number of cardinal electors Francis
will be able to create.
In the Roman Curia there are three prelates who are cardinals but do
not have the biretta: the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the new Prefect of the Congregation
for the Clergy, Beniamino Stella and the new Secretary of State, Pietro
Parolin.
The leaders of a number of archdioceses (Turin and Venice in
Italy) which traditionally produced a lot of cardinals have not been
given the biretta.
It is too early, however, to make any predictions.
In the next few months the Curia’s structures and organisation will
be radically reshaped and the process of confirming and replacing
members will be complete.
It is not known for certain what criteria
Francis will use when selecting the new cardinals.
On 19 and 20 February, two days before Francis names the new
cardinals, he will be meeting cardinals in Rome for talks.
By then, the
eight-member Council in charge of looking into Curia reform will have
met three times and it is possible that this is one of the things that
will be discussed during the meeting.
But a month or so after the
consistory, another important meeting is due to take place: the
Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family.
This is another element
that could be discussed at February’s meeting.