There are new positions opening up in the College of Cardinals as
various current members reach the age limit for cardinal electors: At
the end of 2013 there will be 12 vacancies and 16 next March, with 120
cardinals currently eligible to vote.
Brazilian cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo,
Archbishop Emeritus of Sao Salvador de Bahia and former Secretary of the
Congregation for Divine Worship turns 80 today.
This brings the number
of cardinals who are eligible to vote in a future Conclave, down to 109
and this will drop to 108 on Christmas Day, when the Archbishop of
Cologne, Joachim Meisner turns 80 too.
Cardinal Meisner is a personal
friend of Benedict XVI’s. His position had been confirmed for a further
five years.
117 cardinals were eligible to vote in the
Conclave that elected Pope Francis after Ratzinger’s historic
resignation. Benedict XVI held two consistories in 2012, one in February
and one in November.
The November one had much fewer participants and
aimed to put right any unfairness shown in the previous one which many
observers claimed had too many Italian and Curia members.
In the end,
only 115 cardinals voted in the last Conclave, after two of them - Keith
Michael O’Brien (who was accused of sexually abusing seminarians years
ago) and the Indonesian Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadj – resigned.
Next year, 12 cardinals will lose eligibility to
vote in a future Conclave. Four of them will turn 80 between January and
March 2014. Only the Ecuadorian Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, the Vietnamese
Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man and the Italians Giovanni Battista Re and
Dionigi Tettamanzi.
“Another four cardinals will lose their cardinal
elector status between January and March bringing the number of cardinal
electors down to 104. That is if new cardinals are not created during
Francis’ first consistory as it looks likely they will,” Vatican
journalist Luis Badilla wrote on Italian Catholic blog Il Sismografo.
The journalist’s words seem to indicate that the Pope may create new
cardinals in the coming months.
At least 16 new cardinals under the age
of 80 could be created to replace the over 80s at the end of March and
this number could rise to 20 as there are another four cardinals who
will be losing voting eligibility between March and the start of
September.
In the Roman Curia there are three prelates who
occupy cardinals’ posts: the Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwing Müller, the new Prefect of the
Congregation for the Clergy, Beniamino Stella and the new Secretary of
State, Pietro Parolin.
Parolin has officially replaced Tarcisio Bertone
but has not yet begun his duties because of an operation he had to
undergo a few days ago.
The leaders of a number of archdioceses (Turin
and Venice in Italy) which traditionally produced a lot of cardinals
have not been given the biretta. But it would be premature to make any
predictions now.
In the next few months the Curia’s structures and
organisation will be radically reshaped and the process of confirming
and replacing members will be complete.
It is not known for certain what
criteria Francis will use when selecting the new cardinals.