Enter the electors

Today, all the cardinals of the Church received the official letter summoning them to Rome. Cardinal Sodano, as dean of the College of Cardinals, signed the letter. Cardinal Simonis, emeritus archbishop of Utrecht, was one of the cardinals who received the summons, although, like many others, he is already in Rome. The image below shows the letter in the hands of the cardinal, who won’t  be able to vote in the conclave, as he is over the age of 80. But all cardinals, elector or not, are expected to take their responsibilities in managing the goods and needs of the Church and the faithful during the sede vacante, as well as preparing for the conclave.Cardinal Sodano’s letter invites the cardinals to the first two General Congregations on Monday. A date for the conclave may be decided upon then, but that is by no means certain. All indications are that the cardinals want time to talk and think.

The electors number 117, although two of them have chosen to remain at home. So here they are, the 115 cardinal electors who will soon be entering the conclave, which they will not be leaving until they have elected a new Supreme Pontiff. As Emeritus Pope Benedict (how odd it is to write that!) said yesterday morning, the new Pope is among them.

A short primer on who’s who among the electors, ordered by precedence (and from left to right and top to bottom, starting at top left and ending at bottom right, in the collage above):

• Giovanni Cardinal Re, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops
• Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State and Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church
• Antonios Cardinal Naguib, Patriarch emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts
• Béchara Cardinal Raï, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites
• Godfried Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels
• Joachim Cardinal Meisner, Archbishop of Köln
• Nicolás Cardinal López Rodríguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo
• Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles
• Jaime Cardinal Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana
• Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, Archbishop emeritus of Montréal
• Vinko Cardinal Puljic, Archbishop of Vrhbosna
• Juan Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez, Archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara
• Antonio Cardinal Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid
• Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop emeritus of Milan
• Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna
• Norberto Cardinal Rivera Carrera, Archbishop of Mexico
• Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago
• Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, President of the Congregation for Catholic Education
• Crescenzio Cardinal Sepe, Archbishop of Naples
• Walter Cardinal Kasper, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Ivan Cardinal Dias, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation fo the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Geraldo Cardinal Agnelo, Archbishop emritus of São Salvador da Bahia
• Audrys Cardinal Backis, Archbishop of Vilnius
• Francisco Cardinal Errázuriz Ossa, Archbishop emritus of Santiago
• Julio Cardinal Terrazas Sandoval, Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• Wilfrid Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban
• Oscar Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa
• Juan Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima
• Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Clergy
• Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires
• José Cardinal Policarpo, Patriarch of Lisbon
• Severino Cardinal Poletto, Archbishop of Turin
• Karl Cardinal Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz
• Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan
• Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Archbishop emeritus of Lagos
• Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako, Archbishop of Khartoum
• Carlos Cardinal Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop emeritus of Sevilla
• Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia
• Ennio Cardinal Antonelli, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family
• Peter Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
• Telesphore Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi
• George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
• Josip Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb
• Jean-Baptiste Cardinal Pham Minh Man, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City
• Philippe Cardinal Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest
• Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
• Agostino Cardinal Vallini, Archpriest of St. John Lateran
• Jorge Cardinal Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas
• Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux
• Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• Seán Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston
• Stanislaw Cardinal Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków
• Carlo Cardinal Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna
• Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh
• Lluís Cardinal Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona
• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris
• Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa
• Théodore-Adrien Cardinal Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay
• Francisco Cardinal Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara
• Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
• Odilo Cardinal Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo
• John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi
• Raúl Cardinal Vela Chiriboga, Archbishop emeritus of Quito
• Laurent Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa
• Paolo Cardinal Romeo, Archbishop of Palermo
• Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington
• Raymundo Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida
• Kazimierz Cardinal Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw
• Albert Cardinal Patabendige Don, Archbishop of Colombo
• Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising
• George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars
• Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto
• Dominik Cardinal Duka, Archbishop of Prague
• Willem Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht
• Giuseppe Cardinal Betori, Archbishop of Florence
• Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
• Rainer Cardinal Woelki, Archbishop of Berlin
• John Cardinal Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong
• Baselios Cardinal Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars
• John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja
• Jesús Cardinal Salazar Gómez, Archbishop of Bogotá
• Luis Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila
• Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue
• Attilio Cardinal Nicora, President of the Financial Information Authority
• William Cardinal Levada, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Franc Cardinal Rode,  Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches
• Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo, President emeritus of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Paul Cardinal Cordes, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Angelo Cardinal Comastri, Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica
• Stanislaw Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
• Raffaele Cardinal Farina, Librarian emeritus of the Vatican Apostolic Library
• Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints
• Robert Cardinal Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Francesco Cardinal Monterisi, Archpriest emeritus of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls
• Raymond Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Kurt Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Paolo Cardinal Sardi, Partron of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
• Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy
• Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ
• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
• Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Manuel Cardinal Monteiro de Castro, Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
• Santos Cardinal Abril y Castelló, Archpriest of St. Mary Major
• Antonio Cardinal Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
• Giuseppe Cardinal Bertello, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
• João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
• Domenico Cardinal Calcagno, President of the Adminstration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
• Giuseppe Cardinal Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
• James Cardinal Harvey, Archpriest of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls

Who we will see in white on the balcony of St. Peter’s sometime later this month remains anyone’s guess. Only Our Lord knows and, as Cardinal Pell said, it is up to the electors to find out.

Photo credit: [1] RKK.nl, [2] collage my own.

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Synod of Bishops – Day Five

The Friday sessions, presided over by Cardinal Robles Ortega, of the Synod started normal enough, with a series of interventions by  23 Synod fathers.

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, suggested that the effectiveness of homilies be made a topic for a future assembly of the Synod. Before him, Bishop Javier Echeverría Rodríguez of Opus Dei had also mentioned the need for this, and suggested that could be achieved by the homilist directing is word also to himself, to lead by example, so to speak.

Cardinal Ravasi spoke, among others, about the tensions between science and faith:

“The incompatibility between science and faith and the prevarications of one against the other and vice versa, as has occurred in the past and continues to occur, should be replaced by mutual recognition of the dignity of their respective epistemological statuses: science is dedicated to the “scene”, that is the phenomenon, while theology and philosophy look to the “foundation”. A distinction, but not of separateness to the point of reciprocal exclusion, since they have a single common object, that is, being and existence. It is therefore comprehensible that overlaps and tensions occur, especially in the field of bioethics.
Dialogue is therefore indispensable, without arrogance and without confusion linked to specific levels and approaches. As John Paul II indicated in 1988, “it is absolutely important that each discipline continues to enrich, nurture and provoke the other to be more fully what it should be and to contribute to our vision of what we are and where we are going”. The great scientist Max Planck, father of quantum theory, also confirmed this: “Every serious and reflective person realizes… there can never be any real opposition between religion and science; for the one is the complement of the other”.

Archbishop Józef Michalik, of Przemysl, Poland, reminded the Synod that we can’t lay the blame for the current crisis of faith merely with others:

“If the faith of today becomes ever weaker, we must not only blame others, but rather ourselves. If the message of faith is not interesting or attractive – this is perhaps the case because that same message is no longer interesting or attractive to us, because it does not excite us, because we do not preach Christ to our families or on the streets of our cities.”

In the afternoon, Pope Benedict XVI hosted the Synod fathers, together with Patriarch Bartholomaois I of Constantinople and Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury, for a lunch in the Paul VI Hall. He followed the “lovely tradition initiated by Pope John Paul II to crown the Synod with a shared meal.” He likened the Synod experience to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus “lit up their hearts and illuminated their minds” allowing them to recognise Him at supper.

“Thus in the Synod we are walking together with our contemporaries. We pray to the Lord that He may illuminate us, that He may light up our hearts so they may become prophetic, that He may illuminate our minds; and we pray that at supper, in the Eucharistic communion, we can really be open, see Him and thus also light up the world and give His light to this world of ours.”

The evening session, the Eighth General Congregation began later, as the Holy Father had already suggested during the lunch. First up was an intervention by Professor Werner Arber, professor of microbiology and President of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences. He gave a “Reflection on the relations between the sciences and religious faith”.

Following this, the members of the Commission for the Message were announced. Four of these, including the president, Cardinal Betori, and the Vice President, Archbishop Tagle, were appointed by the pope, while the remaining eight were elected by the Synod fathers. The members, tasked with composing the pastorl message related to the topic of the Synod, are:

Giuseppe Cardinal Betori, Archbishop of Florence, Italy
Archbishop Luis Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines
Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, Archbishop of Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania
Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, Austria
Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars, India
Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, United States
Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium
Archbishop John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand
Archbishop Sérgio Da Rocha, Archbishop of Brasilia, Brazil
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan
Father Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Photo credit: [2] Bishop Gerald Kicanas

Synod of Bishops – Day One

“The fact […] that each Synodal assembly begins with prayer is no mere formality. Rather, it is evidence of our awareness that the initiative is always God’s. We may implore it, but the Church can only cooperate with God.”

United in prayer with 256 of the Synod fathers, Pope Benedict XVI launched the first working day of the Synod of Bishops this morning. In a seemingly unscripted address. the Holy Father spoke about the important fact of God’s reality and about charity being the visible form of the confession of our faith.

Today’s first Synodus Episcoporum Bulletin has a summary of the pope’s words, as well as full texts of the other main addresses: the greeting by President-Delegate Cardinal John Tong Hon; the report by the Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishop, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic; and the Relatio ante disceptationem by the Relator General, Cardinal Donald Wuerl (pictured).

In the afternoon, the fathers met once more for the second general congregation. Five prelates gave reports on the need for new evangelisation in their respective continents: Cardinal Péter Erdö for Europe, Cardinal Polycarp Pengo for Africa, Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes for the Americas, Cardinal Oswald Gracias for Asia and Archbishop John Atcherley Dew for Oceania. Cardinal Erdö’s words especially had a very serious undertone, which may be summarised in his first point: “Europe must be evangelized. It needs it.”

Following these reports, which outlined a background to the new evangelisation, why it is needed and how it is and will be implemented in the various parts of the world, three prelates presented further interventions. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro García-Calderón and Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko offered some extra points for discussion and reflection.

The texts of the Synod are steadily coming out, and as this blogger hasn’t got the time or space to discuss them all, I can only suggest you read (some of) them yourself. For today, I would say that Cardinal Wuerl’s words are most significant.

Presenting the Synod Fathers

In addition to delegates from the world’s bishops’ conferences, three president-delegates (Cardinals Tong Hon, Robles Ortega and Monsengwo Pasinya), the relator-general (Cardinal Wuerl) and the secretary (Archbishop Carré), the Holy Father specifically appointed 36 Synod fathers for this autumn’s Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will focus on the new evangelisation. Later, there will be additional lay men and women who will be invited to contribute as well.

The list of the 36 Synod Fathers is as follows:

• Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals.
• Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
• Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Vrhbosna, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and president of SECAM/SCEAM (Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar).
• Cardinal Christoph Schönborn O.P., archbishop of Vienna, Austria.
• Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia.
• Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia.
• Cardinal Péter Erdö, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary and president of CCEE (Council of European Episcopal Conferences).
• Cardinal Agostino Vallini, His Holiness’ vicar general for the diocese of Rome.
• Cardinal Lluis Martínez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona, Spain.
• Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, France.
• Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India and secretary general of FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences).
• Patriarch Francesco Moraglia of Venice, Italy.
• Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria.
• Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata, Argentina.
• Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, Ecuador, president of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference.
• Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand, president of FCBCO (Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania).
• Archbishop Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.
• Archbishop José Horacio Gomez of Los Angeles, U.S.A.
• Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla, president of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council).
• Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England.
• Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobon Restrepo of Medellin, Colombia.
• Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Manila, Philippines.
• Archbishop Filippo Santoro of Taranto, Italy.
• Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, prelate of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei.
• Bishop Dominique Rey of Frejus-Toulon, France.
• Bishop Menghisteab Tesfamariam M.C.C.J., eparch of Asmara, Eritrea.
• Bishop Benedito Beni dos Santos of Lorena, Brazil.
• Bishop Santiago Jaime Silva Retamales, auxiliary of Valparaiso, Chile and secretary general of CELAM.
• Bishop Luigi Negri of San Marino-Montefeltro, Italy.
• Bishop Alberto Francisco Sanguinetti Montero of Canelones, Uruguay.
• Bishop Enrico Dal Covolo S.D.B., rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
• Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation.
• Fr. Renato Salvatore M.I., superior general of the Clerks Regular Ministers to the Sick (Camillians).
• Fr. Heinrich Walter, superior general of the Schönstatt Fathers.
• Fr. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil C.M.I., prior general of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate

Four of the Synod Fathers: Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishops Onaiyekan and Longley, and Fr. Walter.

The list is an interesting mix of the old guard (Sodano, Meisner) and the up and coming (Gomez, Tagle), and also includes a number of prelates who have recently worked closely with the pope on papal visits (Pengo, Longley, Onaiyekan, Negri). Although hand-picked for the Synod, these prelates are not more or less important then the delegates from all over the world. They will be full and active participants on the Synod, though, and at least some of them may be expected to contribute significantly.