Rumors are swirling around Rome that Pope Benedict XVI will soon announce a consistory for the creation of new cardinals, to be held late in November 2007.Speculation about a November consistory began in July.
Journalists in Rome now suggest that the Pope could announce his plans this week.
There are now 180 living members of the College of Cardinals, including 104 who are below the age of 80 and thus eligible to participate in the papal conclave.
The number of cardinal-electors will drop again on November 23 when Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Secretary of State and current Dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrates his 80th birthday.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI set the upper limit for the number of cardinal-electors at 120, and Pope John Paul II confirmed that limit in his own apostolic constitution Universi Dominic Gregis in 1996.
But John Paul twice surpassed the limit himself twice.
Pope Benedict has suggested that he plans to name only a relatively small number of cardinals at each consistory.
Several prelates are considered likely candidates to receive a red hat, since they occupy posts ordinarily held by a cardinal.
They include
* Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the longtime sostituto, or second-ranking official in the Secretariat of State, who is now prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches;
* Archbishop John Foley, the American prelate who was the longtime head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications before his recent appointment as pro-Grandmaster of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre; and
* Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican "foreign minister" who is now president of the Vatican City governatorate
* Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, the president of the Italian bishops' conference, is another very likely candidate for elevation.
Other residential archbishops who could receive a red hat are Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk (until recently Moscow), and Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC.
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