Saturday, February 18th, Benedict XVI will impose the red hat on 22 new “princes of the Church”, ready to defend the faith and the Pope “usque ad sanguinis effusionem”, which means: “unto the shedding of our blood”, symbolized by the red colour of their cassocks.
Eighteen of the newly “created” (the appointment of cardinal is referred to in this manner because it depends on the free will of the Pope) will join the world’s most exclusive “club”, the group that will be responsible for voting for the Pope, while the remaining four, who are over 80, will receive the red biretta for merits acquired during their long service, but they cannot participate in a Conclave because they are beyond the age limit for cardinal electors.
Along with the red hat (the classic “three-cornered hat”, but without the tassel), the new cardinals will also receive from the Pope's hands the note of appointment with the name of the Roman Church assigned to them - each cardinal receives one – together with the Cardinal ring.
Until the last consistory, held in November 2010, the Pope presented the ring the day after the imposition of the biretta, during a Mass in St. Peter's concelebrated with the new cardinals.
The ritual has been revised and streamlined, and now newly elected cardinals will receive everything in one go, on Saturday morning.
The list of new cardinals was announced by Pope Benedict XVI during the Angelus on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6th.
The list of new cardinals is headed by Fernando Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Followed by another nine department heads or administrators of curial offices:
Brazilian João Braz de Aviz (Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life),
Manuel Monteiro de Castro (Major Penitentiary, appointed to this position a few hours before the consistory was announced),
Giuseppe Bertello (President of the Vatican Governorate) from Portugal,
Domenico Calcagno (Chairman of the Administration for the Patrimony of the Apostolic See),
Giuseppe Versaldi (President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See),
the Spaniard Santos Abril y Castelló (Archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore),
the American Edwin Frederick O'Brien (grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre),
Antonio Maria Vegliò (President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People)
and
Francesco Coccopalmerio (President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts).
There are 8 diocesan bishops who will be joining the world's most exclusive “club”, that of the Pope’s voters:
Giuseppe Betori (Archbishop of Florence),
the Indian George Alencherry (Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church),
the Canadian Thomas Christopher Collins (Archbishop of Toronto),
the Dutchman Willem Jocoby Eijk (Archbishop of Utrecht),
John Tong Hon from China (Bishop of Hong Kong),
the German Rainer Maria Woelki (Archbishop of Berlin),
the American Timothy Michael Dolan (Archbishop of New York)
and
Dominik Duka from the Czech Republic (Archbishop of Prague).
Another four octogenarian cardinals have been added by Ratzinger to this list of eighteen cardinals:
Fr. Prosper Grech, consultant to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
Fr. Karl Josef Becker, professor emeritus of the Pontifical Gregorian University,
the Archbishop Lucian Muresan, Major Archbishop of the Romanian Greek Catholic church,
and
Mgr. Julien Ries, Professor Emeritus of History of Religions at the Catholic University of Leuven and founder of Anthropology of Religion.
With this “batch” of cardinals the number of cardinal electors rises to 125 (five more than the ceiling of 120 set by Paul VI, but exceeded several times by Pope John Paul II).
However, the number will return to normal in a few months, since many cardinals will reach the limit of eighty years of age. The list of new cardinals confirms a trend that has manifested itself in recent years: in fact the weight of the Roman Curia, Europe and especially Italy is increasing.
In fact, in the list that the Pope announced on 6 January, ten cardinals with voting rights belong to the Curia, five of these are former papal nuncios.
There are 7 Italians in the list, but only one of them, Giuseppe Betori, leads a local church.
All the others hold posts in government departments and offices of the Vatican.
In the event of a conclave, the Italian cardinal electors would account for well over 30 of the 125 electors.
Faced with this massive curial presence, significant absences are noted: that of next February will be a consistory without even one new African cardinal, despite the success of the Pope's recent trip to Benin and the appreciated vitality shown by the Churches of the continent.
Not even one red hat will go to residential bishops of Latin America, in what in other times was referred to as the “Continent of Hope”.
More than half of the Catholics in the world reside in Latin America, where the Pope will travel to in a few weeks (Mexico and Cuba) and where a World Youth Day is due to be held in 2013.
Neither have any bishops from the Middle East (where Christians are facing great hardships) been appointed as cardinals.
With Saturday's consistory, the number of European cardinal electors will turn to 67.
Together with the those from North America and Oceania, this makes a total of 83 cardinal electors who come from the Northern hemisphere.
Latin America, Africa and Asia put together reach 41 voters.
Most striking, in these balances, is the weight of the Roman Curia: after 18 February, 44 of the 125 cardinal electors, that is more than one third, works or has just finished working in Roman departments and offices.
In his four consistories Benedict XVI has created 84 cardinals, including 68 voters. Among these, are 21 Italians (30.1%) and 28 curials (41.2%).
From this point of view, as pointed out in an article published on the website of the Italian Vatican analyst Sandro Magister (http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350142), “these numbers are much higher than those recorded with Blessed John Paul II (of the 209 cardinals created by him 46 were Italians, 22 % and 61 were curials, 29.2%), with Paul VI (who appointed 144 cardinals, 38 were Italians 26.4%, and 40 curials, 27.8%) and even with Pius XII (among his 54 cardinals 13 were Italians, 24.1%, and 10 curials, 18.5%: a percentage, the latter that is curiously lower than any of the Popes that succeeded him)”.
A similarity in numbers can be seen between the consistories of Pope Benedict XVI and those of Blessed John XXIII.
As is tradition, on Saturday afternoon, the schedule also includes congratulatory visits to the new cardinals, in the various rooms and corridors of the Apostolic Palace, as well as at various points in the Hall Paul VI in the Vatican.
The newly elected cardinals will receive greetings and tributes from all those who wish to congratulate them.