Pope wants to call Consistory in near future

The Pope wants to call a Consistory to create new cardinals within quite a short space of time; so short in fact that a week or so ago Curia leaders were secretly considering organising a council for November, straight after the end of the Synod on faith, reports Vatican Insider.

But a majority rejected the idea, unless there was a serious breach of the law, which states that the Curia should be made up of 120 cardinal electors under the age of 80.

At the end of 2012 there will be 114 cardinal electors and the Pope has been left with very little time to fill the remaining vacant posts. 

In June 2013 cardinal electors will number 108 and by the end of 2013 this figure will drop to 104.

The Pope’s dilemma is not limited to choosing a date for the next Consistory. If he decides to hold the assembly in February and estimates 12 positions, taking into account those cardinals who will turn 80 by June, the number of individuals who could legitimately expect to be selected would greatly surpass the number of “birettas” available. 

In this case, important choices would have to be made in terms of Church geopolitics in order to ensure no area of Catholicism is left unrepresented in a potential - and hopefully distant – Conclave.

The Curia considers the election of the new Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the German, Gerhard Ludwig Müller as cardinal, inevitable.

It is very likely that the biretta will also go to the Vatican’s new librarian, the Frenchman Jean Louis Bruguès, the President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Vincenzo Paglia and Mgr. Rino Fisichella who is in charge of the New Evangelisation. 

That’s four.