THE VATICAN: Not for the first time in this pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI yesterday sprang some mild surprises when naming his first batch of new cardinals. Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience, the pope, as was widely expected, announced the creation of 15 new cardinals, with 12 of them being under 80 years old and thus eligible to vote in a forthcoming conclave.
The new men, who will be formally elevated to the college of cardinals at a consistory on March 24th, include three Asian prelates and, somewhat contrary to custom and practice, only three nominations from the Roman Curia. Mildly surprising, too, is the fact that important archdioceses such as Paris, Barcelona and Dublin have, this time at least, been overlooked. Announcing the forthcoming consistory, Pope Benedict said: "The universality of the church is well respected in the choice of new cardinals since they come from different parts of the world and fulfil different roles in the service of God's people."
Among the nominations widely expected were those of two US prelates, Archbishop William Levada, the man who succeeded Benedict as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Seán O'Malley of Boston, apparently nominated in recognition of his work in dealing with the clerical sex abuse scandal that prompted the resignation of his predecessor, Cardinal Bernard Law, in 2002. Nor does the nomination of the Archbishop of Cracow, Stanislao Dziwisz, the long-time private secretary to Pope John Paul II, come as a surprise.
Perhaps the most intriguing appointment, though, is that of Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong, a man who in the past has criticised China's human rights record and who is widely seen as a pro-democracy bishop. The other two Asian appointments are South Korean Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk and Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, Philippines.
Commenting on the nomination of Bishop Zen, Ma Ngok, assistant professor of social sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told Reuters news agency: "It seems that in picking Zen, they are not too afraid of picking somebody who is obviously not on good terms with the Chinese government".
The other new cardinals include Slovene Fran Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Religious, Italian Agostino Vallini, prefect of the Apostolic Segnatura, Italian Carlo Caffara, Archbishop of Bologna,Venezuelan Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux and Spaniard Antonio Canizares Llovera, Archbishop of Toledo. In addition to the above-named 12, all of voting age, the pope also nominated three "over-age" cardinals in Italian Andrea Cordero Lana di Montezemolo, a former apostolic delegate in Jerusalem, the biblicist Jesuit Albert Vanhoye and Ghanaian archbishop Peter Poreku Dery.
Several Vatican commentators noted that two important archdioceses, those of Dublin and Paris, were overlooked. Italian news agency AGI said neither Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, nor the Archbishop of Paris, André Vingt-Trois, "will have to wait long" before receiving a red hat.
Pope Benedict yesterday said he had chosen to respect the 120 ceiling for voting-age cardinals established by Paul VI, but often disregarded by John Paul II. This could mean that he will hold consistories more regularly than his predecessor, who, on average, convened one once every three years.