Pope to create new cardinals

The Pope hand-picks the cardinals

By May Ying Welsh, CNN Rome bureau

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Pope John Paul II is to create 44 new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church -- one of whom could become his successor.

The solemn ceremony on Wednesday will take place on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica during which they will be inducted into the elite College of Cardinals.

The college is an all-male, all-clerical, nearly 1,000 year-old institution whose most important role -- to elect the Roman Pontiff -- takes place in total secrecy.

Each cardinal has been hand-picked by John Paul from the ranks of priests and bishops around the world and they are the most powerful men in the Catholic Church.

During the ceremony, Pope John Paul will read the names of the churchmen being initiated and pronounce the formula of creation.

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The new cardinals will then approach the pontiff to receive the title to a Roman church and a scarlet silk cap -- the colour of blood to symbolise a cardinal’s willingness to die for his faith.

The new crop of cardinals, the largest group ever created by a Pope at one time, join a College that now includes a record-breaking 184 members, representing an unprecedented 68 countries.

Clerical tailor shops in Rome worked late into the night to ready cossacks and gowns for all the new Princes of the Church.

Among the freshman cardinals are Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, a Vietnamese prelate who was imprisoned for 13 years in his native land, Antonio Jose Gonzalez Zumarraga, a Quechua Indian from Ecuador who has defended native rights, and Wilfrid Fox Napier, South Africa’s first black cardinal.

The new American cardinals are Edward Michael Egan who recently replaced the late Cardinal John O’Connor as Archbishop of New York, Theodore Edgar McCarrick, an expert on international peace and justice issues as Archbishop of Washington DC, and the renowned Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles.

Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras is to become a Cardinal

Latin Americans dominate the group of new cardinals bolstering the power and influence of the region in church leadership and decision-making.

Also being honoured as cardinals are four eastern Europeans who brought their churches back to life after decades of Soviet repression. Two were created cardinals in 1998 but could not be publicly revealed until now for sensitive political reasons.

As expected, John Paul also made cardinals of many long-serving Vatican bureaucrats. Most prominent among them is Giovanni Battista Re, the Pope’s former chief of staff who now shapes the global church by selecting its bishops around the world.

However, the Pope sent shock waves through the European press when he elevated Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz, Germany who has crossed swords with the Vatican over social issues such as the status of divorced Catholics and priestly celibacy.

Over the course of his 22-year pontificate, Pope John Paul II has earned a reputation as a conservative by staunchly resisting such innovation.

Having now appointed an astounding 92 percent of the men who will elect his successor, John Paul II has ensured that the next Pope will share at least some of his views.

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The Vatican
The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church
Pope John Paul

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