Bishops coming, bishops going – a look ahead at 2017

On the threshold of 2017, a look ahead at what we may expect when it comes to the leadership of the various dioceses in Northwestern Europe.

There have been years when the changes were rather significant, but 2017 does not look to be one of those. At the start of the new year, three dioceses are without a bishop: Groningen-Leeuwarden in the Netherlands (map at right), Mainz in Germany and the Territorial Prelature of Trondheim in Norway. It is a safe bet that the first two will receive their new bishops in 2017, but Trondheim may well be left as it has been for the past seven years: without a bishop, and with the bishop of Oslo serving as Apostolic Administrator. But on the other hand, for a see that just built and consecrated its new cathedral, and which, like the rest of Norway, has seen a significant increase in Catholic faithful, this does not seem like a situation that will continue forever. So who knows what the year will bring.

In Groningen-Leeuwarden, the new bishop will succeed Bishop Gerard de Korte, who was appointed to ‘s-Hertogenbosch in March. Almost ten months in, the vacancy is the longest for the Dutch Catholic Church in recent years. The new bishop of Mainz will follow in the footsteps of Cardinal Karl Lehmann, who led that ancient see for 33 years.

There are a few bishops who will reach the age of 75 in 2017, and thus will offer their resignation. In Germany, these are Bishop Friedhelm Hofmann of Würzburg on 12 May and Norbert Trelle (at left) of Hildesheim on 5 September. Joining them is Bishop Frans Wiertz of Roermond in the Netherlands. He will be 75 on 2 December, but I would not be surprised if his retirement will be accepted earlier, as the bishop has been struggling with eye-related health problems.

There is one bishop serving past the age of 75. Bishop Luc Van Looy of Ghent has been asked to continue serving for another two years, so that Belgian see will remain occupied for the duration of 2017.

A less certain area to make predictions about is the appointment of auxiliary bishops. I expect, however, that two German dioceses will receive one auxiliary each. The Archdiocese of Hamburg has been without auxiliary bishops since October, when Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke retired. As the archdiocese is being reorganised, the number of auxiliary bishops will be decreased from two to one, and we may well see one of the three new area deans (representing the archdiocese’s constituent areas of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg) to be made a bishop. Further south, the Diocese of Münster has confirmed its request for a new auxiliary bishop after Heinrich Timmerevers was appointed to Dresden-Meißen in April. This will bring the number of auxiliary bishops back up to five, one for each pastoral area.

In Rome, lastly, there will be no new consistory. Only four cardinals will reach the age of 80 and so cease to be electors. They are Audrys Backis, Archbishop emeritus of Vilnius, Lithuania (and former Nuncio to the Netherlands) (at right); Raymundo Damasceno Assis, Archbishop emeritus of Aparecida, Brazil; Attilio Nicora, Pontifical Legate to the Basilicas in Assisi, Italy; and Lluís Martínez Sistach, Archbishop emeritus of Barcelona, Spain. The number of cardinals who will be able to participate in a conclave will still be 116 at the end of next year, so there will be no need to bring their numbers up.

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In Liège, Cardinal Maradiaga hints at a consistory and a red hat for Archbishop De Kesel

Visiting Liège for a conference on Monday, Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga (pictured above with Liège’s Bishop Jean-Pierre Delville), archbishop of Tegucigalpa in Honduras and one of the members of the C9, the council of cardinals advising Pope Francis on reforming the Curia, hinted at a possible consistory for the creation of new cardinals to be either held or announced in November. He also suggested that among the new cardinals could be the archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Jozef De Kesel, but chances are that that was just inspired by the fact that Cardinal Maradiaga was speaking in Belgium. And while Archbishop De Kesel could theoretically be made a cardinal – many of his predecessors were (with the notable – and regrettable – exception of Archbishop Léonard) – Pope Francis’ eye is not automatically focussed on the old dioceses of Europe when it comes to handing out red hats…

Between now and the end of the year, seven cardinals will turn 80 and thus become unable to vote in a conclave. The number of electors is now 114 and will be 107 at the end of November. If a consistory is held sometime in February, as the previous two were, at least one and perhaps two more cardinals will have aged out, allowing Pope Francis to create up to 15 new cardinals to bring the number of electors back up to the maximum of 120.

The nine cardinals turning 80 between now and mid-February are:

• William Levada, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on 15 June.
• Anthony Okogie, Archbishop emeritus of Lagos, on 16 June.
• Antonio Rouco Varela, Archbishop emeritus of Madrid, on 24 August.
• Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop emeritus of Havana, on 18 October.
• Nicolás López Rodríguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo, on 31 October.
• Ennio Antonelli, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family, on 18 November
• Théodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop emeritus of Dakar, on 28 November.
• Audrys Bačkis, Archbishop emeritus of Vilnius, on 1 February.
• Raymundo Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida, on 15 February.

Of these, seven are retired, but it would be altogether too easy to expect their successors to be made cardinals after them ( and Cardinal Levada’s successor in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Müller, already is one). Still, it would fit with Pope Francis’ focus on the periphery, the plight of refugees and the importance of families to make Archbishops Alfred Martins in Lagos, Juan García Rodríguez in Havana and Vincenzo Paglia in the Pontifical Council for the Family cardinals.

In addition to Archbishop De Kesel, there are some more possible candidates for a red hat in northwestern Europe. In Germany, Archbishop Heiner Koch (at right) of Berlin is one. Six of his predeccesors in the German capital were cardinals, and although elected by the cathedral chapter of Berlin, he was included on the list they chose from, which was okayed by Pope Francis. Another option, if a remote one, is Archbishop Stefan Heße of Hamburg, appointed by his fellow bishops to oversee the Church’s efforts in the refugee crisis, a topic close to Pope Francis’ heart. It would Hamburg’s  first red hat. I don’t foresee any new cardinals from other countries in the area. That said, anything’s possible, as Pope Francis has previously elevated cardinals from unlikely dioceses.

If Pope Francis creates any cardinals in this part of Europe, it would be a first. In his past two consistories he did make some German cardinals, but they were all either retired or working in Rome.

Photo credit: [1] Diocese of Liège, [2] Walter Wetzler

Enter the Synod members

Yesterday the Holy See published the list of participants in the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the family. Of course, there are the usual suspects: the heads of the Roman Curia departments, the standing members of the Synod and the presidents of the world’s bishops’ conferences, with the latter being default participants in an Extraordinary General Synod, which this one is. Pope Francis has had a personal touch in the selection of several participants; noteable among those are Cardinal Kasper, to all appearances a theologian much appreciated by the Holy Father, but also the vast majority of cardinals he created in his first consistory of last February.

A breakdown per country also shows Pope Francis’ fairly strong focus on both the southern half of the globe and the Middle East. When looking at the members personally appointed by the Pope, as well as the lay and professional participants and auditors, we see that, while 35 participants come from Europe (19 of whom are based in Rome or other parts of Italy), 15 participants come from Asia (5 of them from the Middle East), 12 from Central and South America, 9 from Africa, 4 from Oceania and 4 from North America. Add to those the bishops’ conference presidents and not least the fact that two of the three President Delegates come from outside Europe, and you get a distinct non-western picture.

From a local point of view it is interesting to see that no less than four participants come from Belgium, while there is only a single one from the Netherlands and a mere two from Germany. Belgium sends Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard,which was expected as he is the president of the Belgian bishops’ conference, but also his predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels (pictured), as well as Father George Henri Ruyssen of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Additionaly, Metropolitan Athenagoras, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgium, attends as a “fraternal delegate”.

From the Netherlands comes the archbishop of Utrecht, Cardinal Wim Eijk, as the president of our bishops’ conference, and Germany sends Cardinal Reinhard Marx, not a stranger in Rome, and Berlin’s Professor Ute Eberl.

And of course the list has been criticised, not least today by Fr. Thomas Reese. His argument that the presence of heads of the Curia is a bad thing, and an indication that Pope Francis’ intentions of overhauling and streamlining the workings of the Curia is doomed to fail, is plainly ludicrous. He argues that the prefects and presidents of the Curia are merely staff members and not policy makers, and should therefore be merely attending, not speaking or voting in the Synod, which is an extreme oversimplification. By that reasoning the presidents of the bishops’ conferences should not be there as participants either. The members of the Roman Curia are the closest collaborators of the Pope. They meet with him on a weekly basis and he is generally kept up to date on whatever is going on in the various department. But the Pope is one man, so the prefects and presidents not only have the leeway to make their own decisions, that is also their mandate. They are also not random clerics appointed on a whim, but experienced in their own field of work. They are far more than staff. Their experience, knowledge and mandate are enough to give them not only the right and duty to attend the Synod, but also to contribute and decide. Cricitism like that of Fr. Reese seems mostly motivated by a deeply ingrained fear and mistrust of the Curia, which has created an artifical opposition between individual faithful and the institutional Church.

Anyway, the Synod is still a couple of weeks away. Let’s give it the chance it deserves and not let it die a quiet death once the delegates have returned home.

Below is the full list of participants, as published yesterday:

PRESIDENT

• Pope Francis

GENERAL SECRETARY

• Lorenzo Cardinal Baldiserri

PRESIDENT DELEGATES

• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France
• Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines
• Raymunda Damasceno Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Brazil

RELATOR GENERAL

• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Hungary, President of the Concilium Conferentiarum Episcoporum Europae (CCEE).

SPECIAL SECRETARY

• Archbishop Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Italy

PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE MESSAGE

• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION FOR THE MESSAGE

• Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina

SYNOD FATHERS FROM THE ORIENTAL CHURCHES

• Patriarch Ibrahim Isaac Sidrak, Patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts, President of the Synod of the Catholic Coptic Church
• Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Melkites, President of the Synod the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church
• Patrirach Ignace Youssif III Younan, Patrirach of Antioch of the Syrians, President of the Syriac Catholic Church
• Patriarch Béchara Boutros Cardinal Raï, Patrirach of Antioch of the Maronites, President of the Synod of the Maronite Church
• Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, President of the Synod of the Chaldean Church
• Patriarch Nersos Bedros XIX  Tarmouni, Patrirach of Cilicia of the Armenians, President of the Synod of the Armenian Catholic Church
• Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, President of the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Church
• Major Archbishop George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly, President of the Syro-Malabar Church
• Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Cardinal Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum, President of the Synod of the Syro-Malankarese Church
• Major Archbishop Lucian Cardinal Muresan, Major Archbishop of Făgăras şi Alba Iulia, President of the Synod of the Romanian Church
• Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Abeba of the Ethiopics, President of the Council of the Ethiopian Church, President of the Bishops’ Conference of Ethiopia and Eritrea
• Archbishop William Charles Skurla, Archbishop of Pittsburgh of the Ruthenians, President of the Council of the Ruthenian Church in the United States of America
• Archbishop Ján Babjak, Archbishop of Presov of the Slovaks, President of the Council of the Slovak Church

PRESIDENT OF THE BISHOPS’ CONFERENCES

• Bishop Benoît Comlan Messan Alowonou, Bishop of Kpalimé, Togo
• Bishop Oscar Omar Aparicio Céspedes, Military Ordinary of Bolivia
• Archbishop José María Arancedo, Archbishop of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Argentina
• Bishop Anders Arborelius, Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden
• Raymundo Damasceno Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecido, Brazil (see also above)
• Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genova, Italy
• Bishop Gervaise Banshimiyubusa, Bishop of Ngozi, Burundi
• Bishop Michael Dixon Bhasera, Bishop of Masvingo, Zimbabwe
• Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Archbishop of Valladolid, Spain
• Bishop Anthony Fallah Borwah, Bishop of Gbarnga, Liberia
• Bishop Jean-Claude Bouchard, Bishop of Pala, Chad
• Josip Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia
• Archbishop Stephen Brislin, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa
• Bishop Markus Büchel, Bishop of Sankt Gallen, Switzerland
• Archbishop Paul Bùi Van Doc, Archbishop of Thành-Phô Hô Chí Minh, Vietnam
• Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro Quiroga, Archbishop of Tunja, Colombia
• Archbishop Ignatius Chama, Archbishop of Kasama, Zambia
• Archbishop Louis Chamniern Santisukniran, Archbishop of Thare and Nonseng, Thailand
• Archbishop Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan
• Archbishop Patrick D’Rozario, Archbishop of Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Archbishop John Atcherley Dew, Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand
• Bishop Nicolas Djomo Lola, Bishop of Tshumbe, Congo-Kinshasa
• Bishop Basílio do Nascimento, Bishop of Baucau, Timor-Leste
• Archbishop Paul-André Durocher, Archbishop of Gatineau, Canada
• Willem Jacobus Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, Netherlands
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary (see also above)
• Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas, Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador
• Ricardo Cardinal Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile
• Bishop Emmanuel Félémou, Bishop of Kankan, Guinea
• Bishop Oscar Gerardo Fernández Guillén, Bishop of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
• Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, Archbishop of Izmir, Turkey
• Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, Archbishop of Poznan, Poland
• Archbishop Dionisio Guillermo García Ibáñez, Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
• Archbishop Zef Gashi, Archbishop of Bar, Montenegro
• Bishop Catalino Claudio Giménez Medina, Bishop of Caacupé, Paraguay
• Bishop Andrej Glavan, Bishop of Novo Mesto, Slovenia
• Archbishop Roberto Octavio González Nieves, Archbishop of San Juan de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India
• Archbishop Jan Graubner, Archbishop of Olomouc, Czech Republic
• Bishop Mario Grech, Bishop of Gozo, Malta
• Archbishop John Ha Tiong Hock, Archbishop of Kuching, Malaysia
• Archbishop Denis James Hart, Archbishop of Melbourne, Australia
• Bishop Eugène Cyrille Houndékon, Bishop of Abomey, Benin
• Archbishop John Hung Shan-Chuan, Archbishop of Taipei, Taiwan
• Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos, Nigeria
• Bishop Peter Kang U-Il, Bishop of Cheju, South Korea
• Archbishop Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of Douala, Cameroon
• Bishop Franjo Komarica, Bishop of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Archbisop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Archbishop of Minsk-Mohilev, Belarus
• Bishop Patrick Daniel Koroma, Bishop of Kenema, Sierra Leone
• Archbishop Joseph Edward Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville, United States of America
• Archbishop Vincent Landèl, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco
• Chibly Cardinal Langlois, Bishop of Les Cayes, Haiti
• Bishop Mathieu Madega Lebouakehan, Bishop of Mouila, Gabon
• Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium
• Archbishop Gerard Tlali Lerotholi, Archbishop of Maseru, Lesotho
• Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang, Bishop of Kalay, Myanmar
• Patriarch José Macário do Nascimento Clemente, Patriarch of Lisbon, Portugal
• Bishop Soane Patita Paini Mafi, Bishop of Tonga, Tonga
• Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, Vicar Apostolic of Paksé, Laos
• Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland
• Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of München und Freising, Germany
• Archbishop Angelo Massafra, Archbishop of Shkodrë-Pult, Albania
• Bishop Juan Matogo Oyana, Bishop of Bata, Equatorial Guinea
• Archbishop Gabriel Mbilingi, Arcbishop of Lubango, Angola
• Bishop Smaragde Mbonyintege, Bishop of Kabgayi, Rwanda
• Archbishop Thomas Meram, Archbishop of Urmya, Iran
• Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine
• Bishop Lúcio Andrice Muandula, Bishop of Xai-Xai, Mozambique
• Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda, Archbishop of Windhoek, Namibia
• Bishop Benjamin Ndiaye, Bishop of Kaolack, Senegal
• Bishop Tarcisius J.M. Ngalalekumtwa, Bishop of Iringa, Tanzania
• Vincent Gerard Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, United Kingdom
• John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya
• Bishop Rimantas Norvila, Bishop of Vilkaviskis, Lithuania
• Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic
• Archbishop John Baptist Odama, Archbishop of Gulu, Uganda
• Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada, Archbishop of Tokyo, Japan
• Bishop Arnold Orowae, Bishop of Wabag, Papua New Guinea
• Bishop Joseph Osei-Bonsu, Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, Ghana
• Archbishop Paul Yembuado Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
• Archbishop Diego R. Padrón Sánchez, Archbishop of Cumaná, Venezuela
• Bishop Franghískos Papamanólis, Bishop of Syros and Santorini, Greece
• Albert Malcolm Ranjith Cardinal Patabendige Don, Archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Bishop Gregorio Nicanor Peña Rodríguez, Bishop of Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia en Higüey, Dominican Republic
• Archbishop Tomasz Peta, Archbishop of Mary Most Holy in Astana, Kazakhstan
• Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, Archbishop of Mother of God at Moscow, Russia
• Bishop Maurice Piat, Bishop of Port-Louis, Seychelles
• Archbishop Patrick Christopher Pinder, Archbishop of Nassau, Bahamas
• Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro García-Calderón, Archbishop of Ayacucho, Peru
• Archbishop Georges Pontier, Archbishop of Marseille, France
• Bishop Louis Portella Mbuyu, Bishop of Kinkala, Congo-Brazzaville
• Bishop Christo Proykov, Apostolic Exarch of Sofia of the Bulgarians, Bulgaria
• Francisco Cardinal Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara, Mexico
• Archbishop Ioan Robu, Archbishop of Bucharest, Romania
• Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras
• Bishop Sócrates René Sándigo Jirón, Bishop of Juigalpa, Nicaragua
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Wien, Austria
• Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, Archbishop of Addis Abeba of the Ethiopics, Ethiopia (see also above)
• Archbishop Zbignev Stankevics, Archbishop of Riga, Latvia
• Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo, Archbishop of Jakarta, Indonesia
• Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, Archbishop of Glasgow, United Kingdom
• Bishop Jean-Baptiste Tiama, Bishop of Sikasso, Mali
• Archbishop Alexis Touabli Youlo, Archbishop of Agboville, Côte d’Ivoire
• Archbishop Fausto Gabriel Trávez Trávez, Archbishop of Quito, Ecuador
• Archbishop Désiré Tsarahazana, Archbishop of Taomasina, Madagascar
• Patriarch Fouad Twal, Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa Mendieta, Archbishop of Panamá, Panama
• Bishop Rodolfo Valenzuela Núñez, Bishop of Vera Paz, Guatemala
• Archbishop Socrates B. Villegas, Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan, Philippines
• Bishop Rodolfo Pedro Wirz Kraemer, Bishop of Maldonado-Punta del Este, Uruguay
• Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako, Archbishop of Khartoum, Sudan
• Bishop Joseph Mukasa Zuza, Bishop of Mzuzu, Malawi
• Archbishop Stanislav Zvolenský, Archbishop of Bratislava, Slovakia

ELECTED BY THE UNION OF SUPERIORS GENERAL

• Father Adolfo Nicolás Pachón, Superior General of the Society of Jesus
• Father Mauro Jöhri, Minister General of the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor
• Father Mario Alegani, Superior General of the Congregation of Saint Joseph

HEADS OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ROMAN CURIA

• Pietro Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State
• Gerhard Ludwig Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches
• Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
• Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Beniamino Cardinal Stella, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
• João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education
• Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Major Penitentiary
• Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Stanislaw Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
• Kurt Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family
• Peter Kodwo Appiah Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
• Robert Cardinal Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Antonio Maria Cardinal Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
• Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
• Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
• Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture (see also above)
• Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications
• Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation
• Domenico Cardinal Calcagno, President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
• Giuseppe Cardinal Versaldi, President of the Prefecture of the Economic Affairs of the Holy See

MEMBERS OF THE ORDINARY COUNCIL

• Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, United States of America
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary (see also above)
• Archbishop Bruno Forte, Archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Italy (see also above)
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, India (see also above)
• Laurent Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo-Kinshasa
• Wilfrid Fox Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban, South Africa
• George Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy
• Odilo Pedro Cardinal Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Wien, Austria (see above)
• Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyc, Ukraine (see also above)
• Bishop Santiago Jaime Silva Retamalas, Auxiliary Bishop of Valparaíso, Chile, Secretary General of the Episcopal Council of Latin America (CELAM)
• Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila, Philippines (see also above)
• Donald William Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, United States of America
• Peter Kodwo Appiah Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (see also above)
• Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation (see also above)

MEMBERS APPOINTED BY THE POPE

• Angelo Cardinal Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals
• Godfried Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, Belgium
• Walter Cardinal Kasper, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan, Italy
• Carlo Cardinal Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, Italy
• Lluís Cardinal Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain
• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France (see also above)
• Jonh Cardinal Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong, China
• Orani João Cardinal Tempesta, Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Adrew Cardinal Yeom Soo-jung, Archbishop of Seoul, South Korea
• Philippe Nakellentuba Cardinal Ouédraogo, Archbishop of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
• Fernando Cardinal Sebastián Aguilar, Archbishop emeritus of Pamplona y Tudela, Spain
• Elio Cardinal Sgreccia, President emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life
• Giuseppe Cardinal Bertello, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Archbishop Giovanni Tonucci, Archbishop of Loreto, Italy
• Archbishop Edoardo Menichelli, Archbishop Anciona-Osimo, Italy
• Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes, Archbishop of Tlalnepatla, Mexico, President of the Episcopal Council of Latin America (CELAM)
• Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto, Archbishop of Delhi, India
• Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, Rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (see also above)
• Bishop Alonso Gerardo Garza Treviño, Bishop of Piedras Negras, Mexico
• Bishop Edgard Amine Madi, Bishop of Nossa Senhora do Líbano em São Paulo of the Maronites, Brazil
• Bishop Enrico Solmi, Bishop of Parma, Italy, President of the Commission for Life and Family in the Italian Bishops’ Conference
• Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota
• Father Francois-Xavier Dumortier, Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University Gregoriana
• Father Antonio Spadaro, Editor of the magazine “La Civiltà Cattolica”
• Father Manuel Jesús Arroba Conde, Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical Lateran University

UNDERSECRETARY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS

• Bishop Fabio Fabene

LIST OF OTHER PARTICIPANTS ACCORDING TO THEIR TITLES

• Fr. Tony Anatrella, psycho-analist. Specialist in social psychiatry. Consultor to the Pontifical Councils for the Family and for Health Care Workers. France.
• Fr. Gérard Berliet, professor of Sacred Scripture at the provincial seminary in Lyon. Head of pastoral care for divorced and remarried faithful in the Archdiocese of Lyon, France.
• Fr. Bruno Esposito, professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical University St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome.
• Fr. Alfonso Fernández Benito, professor of Moral Theology and the Sacrament of Marriage at the Hugher Institute of Theological Studies “San Ildefonso”, director of the Institute for Religious Sciences Santa Maria di Toledo, Spain.
• Fr. Arul Raj Gali, National Director of “Holy Cross Family Ministries in India”.
• Dr. Jeffrey Goh, professor of Systematic Theology at the archdiocesan seminary and judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of Kuching, Malaysia.
• Fr. Maurizio Gronchi, professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical University Urbaniana in Rome, consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Dr. Rodrigo Guerra López, general director of the Centre for Advanced Social Research, Mexico.
• Dr. Jocelyne Khoueiry, member of the Episcopal Commission for the Family of the APECL, Lebanon.
• Dr. Helen Kyung Soo Kwon, member of the executive committee of the “Helen Kim Scholarship Foundation at Ewha Womans University”, South Korea.
• Fr. Sabatino Majorano, professor of Systemic Moral Theology at the Alphonsianum, Italy.
• Mr. Christopher Laurence Meney, director of the Center for life, marriage and family of the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia.
• Professor Giuseppina de Simone, extraordinary professor of philosophy at the Theological Faculty of Southern Italy in Naples. Married to ∨
• Professor Francesco Miano, professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, president of Catholic Action, Italy. Married to ^
• Professor Carmen Peña García, director of Especialista en Causas Matrimoniales, professor at the Faculty of Canon Law of the Comillas Pontifical University, Defender of the Bond and Promotor of Justice at the Metropolitan Court of Madrid, Spain.
• Fr. George Henri Ruyssen, professor at the Faculty of Oriental Canon Law of the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. Belgium.

AUDITORS

•  Mr. Arturo and Mrs. Hermelinda As Zamberline, officials of the ‘Equipe Notre Dame” in Brazil.
• Mr. Riyadh Albeer Naoom Azzo and Mrs. Sanaa Namir Ibrahim Habeeb, witnessing of Christian family life in a Muslim environment, Iraq.
• Mr. León Botolo and Mrs. Marie Valentine Kisanga Sosawe, founders of Communauté Famille Chrétienne, Congo-Kinshasa.
• Professor Zelmira María Bottini de Rey, director of the Institute for Couples and Family of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina, president of the Latin-America Network of the Institute of the Family of the Catholic Universities, Argentina.
• Mr. George Campos, director of Couples for Christ, Philippines. Married to ∨
• Mrs. Cynthia Campos, member of Couples for Christ, Philippines. Married to ^
• Mr. Inácio Amândio Chaúque, educator of young couples, Mozambique.
• Mrs. Joan Clements, director of the executive committe of the World Organisation Ovulation Method Billings (WOOMB), Australia.
• Mr. Stephen and Mrs. Sandra Conway, regional officers for Africa of Retrouvailles, South Africa.
• Dr. Ute Eberl, responsible for pastoral care for marriage and family in the Archdiocese of Berlin, Germany.
• Mrs. Pilar Escudero de Jensen, member of the vicariate general of the Archdiocese of Santiago, Chile, member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, member of the Family Institute of Schönstatt, Chile. Married to ∨
• Mr. Luis Jensen Acuña, member of the Bioethics Centre of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, member of the Family Institute of Schönstatt, Chile. Married to ^
• Dr. Jean Dieudonné Gatsinga and Mrs. Emerthe Gatsinga Tumuhayimpundu, repsonsible for young families of the Focolare movement in Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Uganda.
• Mr. Jeffrey Heinzen, director of Natural Family Planing of the Diocese of La Crosse, United States of America. Married to ∨
• Mrs. Alice Heinzen, member of the Natural Family Planning Advisory Board of the Diocese of La Crosse, United States of America. Married to ^
• Dr. Ilva Myriam Hoyos Castañeda, prosecutor delegate for the defense of the rights of children, youth and family, Colombia.
• Mr. Sélim and Mrs. Rita Khoury, leading the Office for Pastoral Care for Families of the Patriarchal Curia of Antioch of the Maronites, Lebanon.
• Mrs. María Lacalle Noriega, director of the Centre of the Study of the family (Inst. Investigaciones económicas y sociales Francisco de Vitoria), secretary general of the Sociedad Española de bioética y biojurídica, Spain.
• Fr. Cajetan Menezes, director of the Family Apostolate in Bombay, India.
• Mr. Giuseppe Petracca Ciavarella and Mrs. Lucia Miglionico, medical doctors, members of the National Council for Pastoral Care of Families, Italy.
• Sister Margaret Muldoon, Superior General of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, Ireland.
• Mr. Francisco Padilla, officer of the Couples for Christ Foundation for family and life movement, Philippines.
• Mr. Algirdas Petronis, vice president of the International Federation of Catholic Families, director of the Centre for the Family of the Archdiocese of Vilnius, Lithuania.
• Mr. Romano and Mrs. Mavis Pirola, directors of the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council.
• Mr Olivier and Mrs. Xristilla Roussy, responsible for the apostolic branch of Amour et Vérité, France.
• Mr. Steve and Mrs. Claudia Schultz, members of the International Catholic Engaged Encounter, United States of America.
• Mrs. Michèle Taupin, preident of the movement Espérance et Vie, France.
• Mrs. Jeannette Touré, National president of the Association of Catholic Women in Côte d’Ivoire.

FRATERNAL DELEGATES

•  Archbishop Athenagoras, Metropolitan of Belgium. Ecumenic patriarchate.
• Archbishop Hilarion, President of Department of External Church Relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow.
• Metropolitan Bishoy, Metropolitan of Damietta, Kafr Elsheikh and Elbarari, Egypt. Coptic Orthodox Church.
• Mar Yostinos, Archbishop of Zhale and Bekau, Lebanon. Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch.
• Bishop Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham, England. Anglican Communion.
• Dr. Ndanganeni Petrus Phaswaha, Bishop-President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South Africa. World Lutheran Federation.
• Dr. Benebo Fubara-Manuel, President of the Nigeria Communion of Reformed Churches. World Communion of Reformed Churches.
• Dr. Valérie Duval-Poujol, professor of Biblical Exegesis at the Catholic Institute of Paris, France. World Baptist Alliance.

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.