Pope appoints new cardinals
Pope Benedict XVI appoints 23 new Cardinals in Vatican ceremony
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Saturday, 24, Nov 2007 02:40
Pope Benedict XVI has created 23 new members of the College of Cardinals in a ceremony in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.
There are now 201 cardinals, although five of the new inductees, being 80 or older, will be ineligible to vote in any papal election.
Among those elevated by the pontiff was Ireland's Archbishop Sean Brady who was the ninth of the new cardinals to receive their symbolic zucchetto – a skull cap – and biretta, a stiff red square hat that acts as a reminder of their willingness to shed blood for their faith.
Other nations that saw senior members of their Catholic church honoured included Italy, Argentina, the US, Poland, Spain and Senegal.
The Pope singled out Patriarch Emmanuel, the spiritual leader of Iraq's Christian population, for particular attention during his short speech saying that the appointment reflected his own spiritual closeness and affection for the Iraqi people.
"Our brothers and sisters in faith are experiencing in the flesh the dramatic consequences of an ongoing conflict and are living in an extremely fragile and delicate political situation," he said.
The new intake follows the Pope's first selection of 15 new cardinals in March last year.
Neither group has altered the geographical balance of the College of Cardinals significantly with a slight increase in Europe's already powerful majority.