BLOG: Cardinals
This week was bursting at the seams with things happening inside Vatican walls. Several key meetings were lined up back to back. The Council of Cardinals, known colloquially as “the C9”, met again this week to continue their work towards a reformed curia. This time they had a more immediate task: presenting the fruit of ...read more
Pope Francis delivered his Christmas present to the Church a little late, but still well within the liturgical Christmas season. On January 4, while leading the Angelus, Pope Francis announced the names of the 15 men under 80 he wants to elevate to the rank of cardinal. Among them are Latin Americans, Africans, Asians, and ...read more
“Merciful Father, by your help, may we be ever attentive to the voice of the Spirit”  (Opening Prayer). This prayer, the opening prayer of today’s Mass, reminds us of something fundamental: we are called to listen to the Holy Spirit who enlivens and guides the Church. By his creative and renewing power, the Spirit always sustains the ...read more
On Saturday, February 22nd, 2014, Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Pope Francis presided his first ordinary public consistory, creating nineteen new cardinals. Sixteen of them are under the age of 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a conclave to choose the next successor of St Peter. These men reflect the universal nature ...read more
On This week’s Vatican Connections we look at the long-awaited beatification decree for Archbishop Oscar Romero. We talk to Father Frank Desiderio, a Paulist priest who worked with the producer of the 1989 film about the martyr, and we look at the reaction of Salvadoreans who have long referred to their slain archbishop as “el ...read more
By Raymond Syms Catholic News Service PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (CNS) — Even as he prepares to receive a red biretta from the hands of Pope Francis, Cardinal-designate Kelvin Felix hopes he can continue his ministry as a “country parish priest.” But he admitted he may have a few new assignments from Pope ...read more
  By Ezra Fieser Catholic News Service SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNS) — In naming Spanish Archbishop Fernando Sebastian Aguilar a cardinal, Pope Francis chose an outspoken leader who played an important role in developing the positions of the Spanish church over a career that has spanned six decades. At 84, Cardinal-designate Sebastian, retired archbishop ...read more
By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (CNS) — When Archbishop Philippe Ouedraogo of Ouagadougou was told he had been named a cardinal Jan. 12, he thought it was someone playing a joke. The telephone call from Rome was in Italian, a language the prelate hardly understood, and he had not been notified ...read more
SEOUL, South Korea (CNS) — When a cardinal dons his red robes for the first time and is given his red hat, he usually is reminded that the color of the vestments is a call to devote himself completely to Christ and his church, even to the point of shedding his blood if necessary. For ...read more
By Ezra Fieser Catholic News Service SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CNS) — Cardinal-designate Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago, Chile, said he would serve the church with “humility and simplicity” when he is elevated to cardinal in February. The cardinal-designate also said although his name had been circulated as a potential candidate, the announcement that he ...read more