The way the consistory – the solemn rite where the pope “creates” new cardinals – is celebrated has changed.
According to the Osservatore Romano, the current rite has been “reviewed and simplified”, with the approval of Benedict XVI.
The “premiere” of the new version of this rite will be held on 18 February, when the “red biretta” will be bestowed on 22 new cardinals, announced Friday by the pontiff.
“In short,” says the Vatican’s newspaper, “the three moments of the bestowing of the biretta, the presentation of the cardinal’s ring and the assignment of titular churches (the church in the diocese of Rome the post of cardinal is tied to) have all been combined.”
In fact, the pope – who is the Bishop of Rome – was traditionally elected by priests who were deacons of the city’s churches, or by their patrons, and by “suburbicarian” bishops of the Capitoline diocese.
Moreover some of the prayers in the rite have been changed and readings from the Bible have been shortened.
The first review of the consistory’s rite, says the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, dates back to the liturgical reform undertaken by the Second Vatican Council.
The first to use the new rite was Paul VI in April 1969.
Essentially, what wasn’t in itself a sacred rite – i.e. the creation of new cardinals – became part of the liturgy, and in this way it was “placed in a context of prayer, though at the same time it avoided any element that could give the impression of a ‘sacrament of cardinalhood’.”
Indeed the consistory “historically speaking was never considered a liturgical rite, but rather a meeting of the pope and his cardinals to discuss the government of the Church.”
In one of the rite’s new prayers, used in the past to celebrate the anniversary of the episcopal ordination of the Bishop of Rome, the pope prays for himself and the Church.
As for the combining of the three key moments for the “creation” of a new cardinal – the bestowing of the biretta, the presentation of the ring and the assignment of his title – this is a consequence of the disappearance of the distinction between the public consistory and the secret consistory, i.e. the part of the rite where the pope announced the names of its new members to the College of Cardinals.
In contrast, the tradition where the pope celebrates mass the day after the consistory with his new cardinals – a mass which “opens with a homage to the pontiff and words of gratitude spoken by the foremost of the new cardinals on behalf of all the others” – has been left unchanged.