Will or won’t Father Karl Josef Becker be created a cardinal today? Since yesterday, we can safely answer that question with a yes, as the photo below shows.
Seated next to Mar George Alencherry, Fr. Becker, the only non-bishop of the 22-member cardinal class of 2012, attended yesterday’s day of reflection and prayer. During the day, in addition to the new evangelisation, such topics like the religious situation in China and interreligious dialogue in India were discussed.
Set to start in less than 90 minutes, I’ll be following the consistory’s proceedings – with a special eye on my own former bishop, now the highest-ranking prelate in the Netherlands, Archbishop Wim Eijk, via the Vatican Radio stream.
While Saturday is certainly the big day, the ‘Ordinary Public Consistory for the Creation of New Cardinals’ is in actuality a four-day event starting tomorrow morning. As a prelude to the creation of the new princes of the Church, the Holy Father has invited them, and the entire College of Cardinals, to spend the day in reflection and prayer. And the topic of that reflection and prayer will be the new evangelisation. The website of the Archdiocese of Utrecht informs us that Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, the President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelisation, will be looking ahead to the Year of Faith as part of the day’s main subject.
The new design of the ring that the new cardinals will receive
Red Saturday will start at 10:30 Roman time with the liturgical celebration during which the new cardinals will receive their zucchetto, biretta, cardinal’s ring and the bull by which they’ll be assigned a title church or deaconry. In the afternoon, the new cardinals will be receiving well-wishers at various locations, with Cardinal Eijk being given a spot in the Paul VI Hall.
On Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI will be concelebrating a Mass with the new cardinals, starting at 9:30. On behalf of the new cardinals, Cardinal Filoni will address the pope.
On Monday, then, the pope will once more meet with the new cardinals to address them and their families, friends and other pilgrims.
The texts of the various addresses and homilies will be available in due time on the Vatican website.
In the Netherlands, the consistory and the Sunday Mass may be watched live via the homepage of the RKK.
Lastly, then, one can only guess at what must be going through the head of Archbishop Eijk as he is no doubt in Rome by now. Whatever thoughts and feelings he may have, they are sure to be tempered by a touch of Dutch level-headedness, as indicated by his reply to a reporter asking about his chances of becoming pope:
“The chance of that is by now less than one percent, what with an increasing number of cardinals from new Church provinces. But well, let’s first become cardinal and then we’ll see.”
Zenit today features an interview with Cardinal-designate Wim Eijk, the archbishop of Utrecht set to become the Netherlands’ eighth cardinal in history. The interview touches upon such topics as the archbishop’s reaction to being on the list for next Saturday’s consistory, his preparation for his new responsibilities, the new evangelisation, his medical education and specialisation in medical ethics, but also the sexual abuse crisis in the Netherlands. About that, he says:
“I see the scandal of sexual abuses disconnected from my creation as cardinal. As the Church in the Netherlands, we must do in-depth research on the scandal of abuses and then take a great number of steps. The fact that, as archbishop of Utrecht, I am being created cardinal is encouraging for the Dutch Church, but it has no connection with the scandal of sexual abuses.”
Go read the rest of the interview with my former bishop (and also the bishop who baptised and confirmed me almost five years ago) at the link above.
After the 2010 consistoy, Cardinal Ravasi receives well-wishers
If you happen to be in Rome on the 18th, the date of the consistory for the creation of 22 new cardinals (The Vatican Information Service still maintains that number, despite the slightly odd reports about Fr. Karl Becker’s absence from the consistory), and for Dutch faithful, the VNB offers that possibility in the form of a four-day trip to Rome, the Holy See has published the exact location where each new cardinal may be found, in order to congratulate them, from 4:30 to 6:30 in the afternoon.
In the atrium of the Paul VI Hall are Cardinals João Bráz de Aviz, Edwin O’Brien, George Alencherry, Lucian Muresan, Julien Ries and Prosper Grech.
In the Paul VI Hall itself: Cardinals Francesco Coccopalmerio, Thomas Collins, Dominik Duka, Willem Eijk, Giuseppe Betori, Timothy Dolan, Woelki and John Tong Hon.
In the Sala Regia of the Apostolic Palace may be found Cardinals Fernando Filoni, Manuel Monteiro de Castro and Giuseppe Bertello.
The Galleria Lapidaria of the Apostolic Palace will host Cardinals Santos Abril y Castelló and Antonio Vegliò.’
And lastly, in the Sala Ducale of the Apostolic Palace will be Cardinals Domenico Calcagno and Giuseppe Versaldi.
And yes, attentive readers will have noticed that this list omits the name of Cardinal Becker. It’s a weird situation that has developed in the past week. Is Fr. Becker indeed too ill to attend the consistory, and if so, why then is his creation as cardinal postponed to some unknown date? A cardinal, after all, need not be present to be created. So why would ill health prevent a cardinal from being created?
I’m curious how many new cardinals we’ll see in the various halls of the Holy See on the 18th.
Photo credit: [1] Considerpriesthood.com, [2] Tony Gentile/Reuters
A week from now, the Catholic Church will gain 21 or 22* new cardinals, and they in turn will each get a cardinal title or a cardinal deaconry. In an earlier blog I explained that cardinals who are ordinaries of a diocese will usually be made cardinal priests with a title church, while cardinals in the curia will be cardinal deacons with a deaconry. But we won’t know which cardinal will receive which title or deaconry until the actual consistory, when they’ll receive them together with the ring and the red biretta.
But all of the above certainly does not mean we can’t guess, of course…
San Giacchino ai Prati di Castello, future title church of Cardinal Eijk?
Ten of the new cardinals will be cardinal priests. They are the heads of major (arch)dioceses and, in one case, the archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Cardinals-designate Santos Abril y Castelló, George Alencherry, Thomas Collins, Dominik Duka, Wim Eijk, Giuseppe Betori, Timothy Dolan, Rainer Woelki, John Tong Hon and Lucian Muresan will receive one of the following 13 title churches, listed in the order in which they became vacant.
Sant’ Atanasio. Entrusted since 1872 to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, a fact that may well be reflected in the choice of cardinal-protector. Cardinals-designates Alencherry and Muresan seem likely, as they are both archbishop in a non-Roman rite Church. Saint’ Atanasio has been vacant since 1984.
San Callisto. Vacant since 2003, but with a long history as a titular church. Past cardinal-protectors came mainly from Italy, but also included cardinals from other European countries.
Nostra Signora di Guadalupe a Monte Mario has been vacant since 2008. Named for Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron of the Americas, a future cardinal-protector may come from either North or South America. Likely, then, are Archbishops Collins or Dolan.
San Felice da Cantalice e Centocello was only held as a title once before, by South Korean Cardinal Kim Sou-Hwan, who died in early 2009.
San Patrizio. A national church of Ireland, a future cardinal-protector will very likely come from that island. It will remain vacant for a while longer, then.
San Giacchino ai Prati di Castello. Previously held by Cardinal Alfrink, one of the mere two previous cardinal-protectors, will this title be given to Archbishop Eijk?
San Bernardo alle Terme. Another title church with a long history as such. Its edifice and annexed monastery are maintained by the Cistercians, which is no clue to the identity of a future cardinal-protector, since there are no Cistercians in next week’s consistory. The previous cardinal-protector was Cardinal Vithayatil, so his successor as Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabarese Church, Mar George Alencherry, could conceivably be given this title as well. But then again, he may just as likely not.
San Marcello. A long history of 63 previous cardinal-protectors from all over the world reveals nothing about the identity of its future cardinal-protector.
San Giuseppe all’ Aurelio is a fairly recently created title church, held by only one cardinal-protector,. He was Berlin’s Cardinal Sterzinsky, so Archbishop Woelki has a decent shot at this.
San Gerardo Maiella was the title church held only by Cardinal Swiatek, so perhaps another Slavic cardinal will succeed him, in the person of Archbishop Duka.
“Regina Apostolorum” has been vacant since last July. It’s three past cardinal-protectors have all been Italians, but most of the older title churches have a strong Italian history when it comes to cardinals assigned them.
Santi Marcellino e Pietro is yet another ancient title church with cardinal-protectors from various nations. It has been vacant since August.
Santissimo Redentore e Sant’ Alfonso in Via Merulana, vacant since the death of Cardinal Bevilacqua a few weeks ago, has a New World history, having been held by two Americans and a Bolivian cardinal. Collins and Dolan again come into view.
So we can make some educated guesses, but nothing is certain when it comes to the assignment of title churches. The Holy Father is also free to create new titles churches.
Interior of the Basilica of Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio
The same really goes for cardinal deaconries, to be assigned to cardinal deacons. Of these, there are 11 or 12* on the list of the consistory: Fernando Filoni, Manuel Monteiro de Castro, Antonio Vegliò, Giuseppe Bertello, Francesco Coccopalmerio, João Bráz de Aviz, Edwin O’Brien, Domenico Calcagno, Giuseppe Versaldi, Julien Ries, Prosper Grech ( and possibly Karl Becker). Currently, there are 11 vacant cardinal deaconries, so if the list of names in the previous line is correct, all will be assigned (and a new one may even be created). We must also not forget that the Holy Father will decide to create one or more of the assumed cardinal deacons as cardinal priests instead, or vice versa. Anyway, whatever may happen, let’s take a look at the vacant deaconries:
Santa Maria in Cosmedin. An ancient basilica that has been vacant since 1967. It has had no less than 64 cardinal deacons that we know of.
San Giovanni Battista Decollato was ever only the deaconry of one Italian cardinal and has been vacant since 1988.
San Teodoro is an ancient church which is also used, by papal permission, by the Greek Orthodox community of Rome. Maybe its future cardinal deacon, its first since 2000, will have some link with the Orthodox?
Santissima Annunciazione della Beata Vergine Maria a Via Ardeatina vacant since 2006, has had a single Italian cardinal deacon.
Nostra Signora di Coromoto in San Giovanni di Dio has had a single Venezuelan cardinal deacon and has been vacant since 2007.
Sant’ Elena fuori Porta Prenestina, vacant since 200, has had two cardinal deacons, one from Ghana and one from Canada.
Santi Vito, Modesto e Crescenzia has been a titular church since 1011, switching several times between a deaconry and a title church. Vacant since 2009, it has been assigned to 35 cardinals.
San Ponziano is another deaconry which has had a single cardinal deacon. It has been vacant since November of 2010.
Sacro Cuore di Gesù a Castro Pretorio is held by the Salesians and is connected to a boarding school for the arts and industries. One of its two past cardinal deacons was Belgian, so maybe Archbishop Ries will get this title.
San Cesareo in Palatio, once the title of the future Pope John Paul II. It has been vacant since September.
San Sebastiano al Palatino has been awaiting a new deacon since the death of Cardinal Foley in December.
The cardinal deaconries are much harder to predict than the title churches of cardinal priests. But the title churches together form a living memory of the rich history of the Church in Rome. As titular priests and deacons of these churches, the new cardinals are part of this history, which is also a history of the Church’s unity with the pope as the visible sign.
* We’ll probably have to wait and see if Fr. Karl Becker is among the new cardinals on the 18th, as reports about his health are conflicting, as is his attendance at the consistory.
While the major abuse symposium enters its final day in Rome, at home the complaints commission of the Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik, an institution established by the Dutch Church to receive complaints of sexual abuse and deals with the initial processing of them, has called for Archbishop Wim Eijk and Cardinal Ad Simonis, current and previous archbishops of Utrecht, to apologise for the abuse suffered by nine men in the parish of St. Pancras in Albergen.
The perpetrator of the abuse, who was parish priest at time, died in 1986, but the Meldpunt sees reason to believe that Cardinal Simonis was aware of what had happened, but didn’t act against the priest. There is no proof of this claim, it must be said.
The victims considered this decision as recognition of their pain, and will now start the process of claiming financial compensation from the Church.
In light of the need for openness, honesty and truthfulness, I think the two prelates should simply and humbly apologise for what went wrong. Their own personal involvement, or lack thereof, does not play a part in that. Like Msgr. Scicluna emphasised yesterday, this is a matter of accountability. The archbishop and the cardinal now have the opportunity to lead by example. Let’s hope that an apology will indeed be forthcoming.
In fact, the problem may only be getting bigger in the immediate future.
After a plenary debate in Parliament yesterday, Justice secretary Ivo Opstelten will be asking the Church to look into what happened to young women and girls in the care of the Church. This after the investigation of the Deetman commission revealed the majority of abuse victims to have been male, Katholiek Nieuwsblad reports. Physical and psychological violence should now also be investigated, as well as the issue of babies put up for adoption on the insistence of Church workers.
Secretary Opstelten is said to be planning to ask Mr. Wim Deetman to also look into these new topics, which were not part of the initial investigation, as it focussed exclusively on sexual abuse of minors. Archbishop Eijk, in a meeting with Parliament members two weeks ago, said that bishops and religious superiros had spoken about including physical and psychological violence in the assignment given to the Deetman commission, but decided against it because of the difficulty of defining violence.
The Deetman commission itself, per its final report, is hesitant about the usefulness of such an investigation, and has emphasised the importance of investigating such forms of abuse, together with sexual abuse, child pornography, child prostitution and people trafficking as a social problem. The Samson commission is investigating the plight of children placed under the care of the government between 1973 and today, and has received 600 claims already. Mr. Deetman suggested awaiting the result of that investigation.
I tend to agree with Deetman’s suggestion. Why have two investigations into roughly the same issue, and why take a small sampling of society to get a big picture? After all, physical abuse took place in our society, not just the Church. Solving the problem in the Church does not solve it in schools, clubs and families. We must not bury our heads and the sand and pretend society as a whole knows no problems, that it is only the Church which does things wrong. Look at the whole picture, not just one or two details. By all means, the Church must look hard at her recent past and do what can be done to set things straight, but she by no means the only one who must do so.
To properly start the new year, the visitors of this blog must’ve thought it a good idea to break the record of last October and grace the blog with no less than 6,870 visits. But there were events and topics to match such a score: the upcoming consistory, the continuing abuse crisis, the Year of Faith and the installation of Bishop Liesen all drew much attention. And so did some older posts (including one dating back to January of 2010). Without much further ado, here’s the top 10:
“You don’t control the results, but that does not change the obligation to do the best we can. There is an essential element of freedom in there. You belong to the Roman Catholic Church because you want to, as conviction you gladly have. Many “enrolled” as children, but it must be confirmed at some point. If it isn’t, it remains something superficial and will not bear fruit. For the intended effect of sowing is for it to take root and bear fruit.”
Words from Bishop Jan Liesen, spoken in an interview with Katholiek Nieuwsblad, prior to his installation as bishop of Breda tomorrow. The installation Mass, which will be concelebrated by Bishop Liesen, his predecessor, Bishop Hans van den Hende, Archbishop Wim Eijk of Utrecht, Bishop Antoon Hurkmans of ‘s Hertogenbosch (where Msgr. Liesen has been auxiliary bishop), other bishops present, and members of the cathedral chapter. The new Nuncio to the Netherlands, Archbishop André Dupuy, will not yet be present. Instead, the Holy See will be represented by Msgr. Habib Thomas Halim, secretary of the nunciature in The Hague.
With some 500 people invited, the Mass is closed to visitors, simply because of the relatively small size of the Cathedral of St. Anthony. Priority has been given to representatives of the parishes of the diocese, as well as various dignitaries. In addition to the bishops mentioned above, Bishop Wiertz, De Korte, Punt, Mutsaerts, Hoogenboom and Hendriks will also be present, as well as Bishops Bonny and De Kesel from the two Belgian dioceses that border Breda, and the emeriti Cardinal Simonis, and Bishops Ernst, Muskens and Van Burgsteden.
On a plaque in the cathedral, Bishop Liesen's name has been added to the lists of bishops of Breda
The Queen’s Commissioners in the provinces of Zeeland and Noord-Brabant, the mayor of Breda and the governor of the Royal Military Academy, which is located in Breda, will also attend the Mass or the following reception.
Upon reading a letter from the Dutch provincial of the Dominicans, Fr. Ben Vocking, o.p., to Archbishop Eijk, about the firing of pastoral worker Tejo van der Meulen, I was once more struck by the deep divide between the way the Catholic Church works and the way some people think it works. The core question that Provincial Vocking asks this, “Do you think you must act against what so many faithful consider the most normal thing in the world/in the Church?” The clear answer to that is, of course, “If that thing is unequivocally wrong or illegal: yes, the bishop must act”.
Reading a homily and joining in the Eucharistic Prayer is something that only priests are allowed to do. We may like it or not, but this is a simple fact. If these rules are not followed, it is only logical that a bishop or superior acts to prevent it. The teachings and rules of the Church are not created in a democratic process. Christ himself did not come to say what people wanted to hear or do what they wanted Him to do. Just as we look towards Him to lead us in our lives, so to do we look to the Church to do the same for us.
Fr. Vocking also mentions the Belgian initiative denouncing celibacy, Holy Orders and a whole raft of other things. “I certainly do not hope,” he asks, “that you think that these people have left the faith behind them?” The people who signed the initiative may not have left all faith in God behind them, but they do wilfully act against His Church.They place individual preferences above God’s intentions and ignore the shepherds he has given us.
Faith is a gift. It is not a human construct, and neither are its contents. Instead of being a democratic institution, the Church is tasked with leading the faithful to God, who is above human thought and action. In that sense, we do well to cultivate an attitude of faithful obedience, with confidence in the teachings of the Church that Christ established. The Church is bigger than us individuals, and can not be subject to our whims and preferences. This does not suggest a passive attitude, but an active participation in the mystery of the salvation that the Lord chooses to achieve through His Church.
Fr. Vocking’s are pointless. He should already know the answers.
Zenit today features an 
And lastly, in the Sala Ducale of the Apostolic Palace will be Cardinals Domenico Calcagno and Giuseppe Versaldi.
In fact, the problem may only be getting bigger in the immediate future.
“You don’t control the results, but that does not change the obligation to do the best we can. There is an essential element of freedom in there. You belong to the Roman Catholic Church because you want to, as conviction you gladly have. Many “enrolled” as children, but it must be confirmed at some point. If it isn’t, it remains something superficial and will not bear fruit. For the intended effect of sowing is for it to take root and bear fruit.”
Upon reading 
In Caelo et in Terra 