At a consistory at the Vatican on March 1, Pope Benedict XVI raised 5 cardinals from the rank of "cardinal deacon" to that of "cardinal priest." The College of Cardinals is made up of three ranks: cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests, and cardinal-deacons.
The distinctions are primarily ceremonial.
The 5 cardinal-deacons who were made cardinal-priests had all been members of the College for 10 years, since being named cardinals by Pope John Paul II in 1998.
They are Cardinals Lorenzo Antonetti, Dario Castrillon Hoyos, Giovanni Cheli, Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, and James Francis Stafford.
Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos is currently the president of the Ecclesia Dei commission, while Cardinal Stafford heads the Apostolic Penitentiary.
The other 3 new cardinal-priests are retired from Vatican posts.
Cardinal Castrillon had been the senior cardinal-deacon, or protodeacon, in the College of Cardinals.
The prelate who occupies that post traditionally steps out onto the balcony of St. Peter's basilica after a papal conclave to introduce the new Pontiff.
It was Cardinal Medina Estevez who was protodeacon in April 2005 and introduced Pope Benedict XVI.
The Chilean cardinal relinquished that role in February 2007 when he reached his 80th birthday and thereby became ineligible to participate in a future conclave.
With Cardinal Castrillon yielding his place as protodeacon, that honour now falls to Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, the former apostolic nuncio in Washington, DC, and former president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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