6 New Cardinals Set to Fly In Rome!

It seems as though it was just yesterday that Archbishop Collins was making his way to Rome as part of the "Class of 2012", with 22 new "red hats" joining the College of Cardinals as elevated by Pope Benedict XVI.

Fast forward 9 months and there's a new arrival at St. Peter's on the feast of Christ the King. In one of the shortest spans between consistories in more than 30 years, six new cardinals will receive the biretta and scarlet robes, the color a reminder of the bloodshed by martyrs who gave their life for the faith.

This "mini-consistory" as some are describing it, will bring a more diverse mix geographically to the College of Cardinals. The Holy Father has described this consistory as a "continuation" of the February 2012 consistory - the newest members of the college include:

Monsignor James Harvey, the American prefect of the pope’s household and (as announced November 23) archpriest of the papal basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls; Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, Ruben Salazar Gomez; Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, Luis Antonio Tagle; Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in Lebanon, Bechara Boutros Rai; and the major Archbishop of the Thiruvananthapuram of the Siro-Malankaresi in India, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

All the new cardinals are under the age of 80, making them eligible to vote for a conclave - remember cardinals no longer can vote for pope after reaching that milestone. In larger classes, the Pope has traditionally named one or two "retired" cardinals, in thanksgiving for service in a particular area of the church. No such appointees this time around.

If you're interested in learning more about the role of cardinals in the church, vestments, etc. you can still access our site from February of this year here. Just remember those resources were tailored to our local experience.

The graphic below, courtesy of Catholic News Service, also provides a helpful visual reminder of the global distribution of cardinals throughout the world.

Rome Reports has a simple 2 minute piece on the November 2012 consistory that you can watch below:




Cardinal Collins is participating in this consistory, offering prayers and fraternal support in Rome to the newest members of the College of Cardinals.

We pray for the newest shepherds of the church - their diverse representation is a reminder of our global church family - we're more than a billion strong and while we all have our own joys and struggles in our little part of the world, in prayer we unite and support one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. May God bless these baby birds!