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.
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.
The upcoming consistory’s 22-name list will not be complete on the 18th of this month. One of the 22 new cardinals won’t be travelling down to Rome for reasons of ill health. Father Karl Josef Becker, the 83-year-old German theologian and consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will be created a cardinal at a private ceremony at some later date.
Father Becker has long been a confidante of Pope Benedict XVi, from back when the latter, as Cardinal Ratzinger, was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Fr. Becker also participated in the negotiations with the SSPX about their return to Rome.
As a Jesuit priest he will most likely also request dispensation from being consecrated a bishop before his elevation to cardinal. Of the three future cardinals who are not bishops yet – Fr. Becker, Fr. Julien Ries and Fr. Prosper Grech – only the latter will be consecrated a bishop, and appointed as titular Archbishop of San Leone. This will take place on 8 February. The exact nature of Fr. Becker’s health concerns have not been revealed.
After a busy morning in which he consecrated Archbishops Charles Brown and Marek Solczyński during today’s Epiphany Mass, the Holy Father appeared a bit later than usual for his noon Angelus address. He quickly moved to the big event that was already causing a considerable buzz among Catholics – journalists and otherwise – on Twitter: the announcement of a consistory on 18 February in which no less than 22 new cardinals – among them 18 electors – will be created.
Soon swapping the purple for red, Archbishop Eijk will be in need of a new official portrait
There are a few big names in the list, but standing out for us here in the Netherlands is that of Archbishop Willem Jacobus Eijk. Three years after his arrival in Utrecht, he will become the metropolitan see’s fifth cardinal in a row. Turning 59 in June, Cardinal-designate Eijk will be able to participate in at least two conclaves, I would think (unless the sucessor of Pope Benedict will pull a JPII and remain on the seat of St. Peter for 20 years or more).
The selection of Archbishop Eijk was not unexpected. His name was already mentioned in the run-up to the November 2010 consistory, but the 80th birthday of Cardinal Simonis, the only Dutch elector, cleared the way for Eijk to succeed him in the College of Cardinals. With the title of cardinal comes, of course, a title church in Rome and a whole bag of expectations. And certainly the local media, which has been seeing the Church and the archbishop in the light of the abuse crisis, will be asking a whole heap of questions about Eijk’s suitability for the red hat. But these are questions being asked too late. A candidate’s suitability as cardinal flows from his suitability as bishop or priest. Added to that is the issue of the College of Cardinals reflecting the world Church and the importance of a see or curial position reflected in a cardinal title. The Archdiocese of Utrecht under the guidance of Archbishop Eijk is, in the mind of the pope and most likely also in light of the future, deserving of a cardinal at the helm.
Here is the full list of future cardinals:
Fernando Filoni, 65, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of People
João Bráz de Aviz, 64, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
Manuel Monteiro de Castro, 73, Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary (only appointed as such yesterday!)
Giuseppe Bertello, 69, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State
Domenico Calcagno, 69, President of the Administration of the Patrimony of theApostolic See
Giuseppe Versaldi, 68, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
Santos Abril y Castelló, 76, Vice-Chamberlain of the Apostolic Chamber and Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major
Edwin Frederick O’Brien, 72, Pro-Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
Antonio Maria Vegliò, 74, President of the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
Francesco Coccopalmerio, 73, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Giuseppe Betori, 65, Archbishop of Firenze
George Alencherry, 66, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly
Thomas Christopher Collins, 65, Archbishop of Toronto
Willem Jacobus Eijk, 58, Archbishop of Utrecht
John Tong Hon, 72, Bishop of Hong Kong
Rainer Maria Woelki, 55, Archbishop of Berlin (the youngest member of the College of Cardinals)
Timothy Michael Dolan, 62, Archbishop of New York
Dominik Jaroslav Duka, 68, Archbishop of Prague
Prosper Grech, 86, Priest of the Order of St. Augustine
Karl Josef Becker, 83, Priest of the Society of Jesus
Lucian Muresan, 80, Major Archbishop of Fagaras si Alba Iulia (Romanian)
Julien Ries, 91, Priest of Namur, Belgium
This consistory is a fairly Italian affair. With 7 new cardinals, Italy easily overtakes the United States and Germany, which each gain two cardinals (Dolan and O’Brien; Woelki and Becker), Brazil (Bráz de Aviz), Portugal (Monteiro de Castro), Spain (Abril y Castelló), India (Alencherry), Canada (Collins), the Netherlands (Eijk), China (Tong Hon), the Czech Republic (Duka), Malta (Grech), Romania (Muresan) and Belgium (Ries) each have one new cardinal.
Four of the cardinal-designates: Filoni, Ries, Woelki and Duka
And lastly, in the Sala Ducale of the Apostolic Palace will be Cardinals Domenico Calcagno and Giuseppe Versaldi.
The upcoming consistory’s 22-name list will not be complete on the 18th of this month. One of the 22 new cardinals won’t be travelling down to Rome for reasons of ill health. Father Karl Josef Becker, the 83-year-old German theologian and consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will be created a cardinal at a private ceremony at some later date.
In Caelo et in Terra 