BLOG: Consistory
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 Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When the freshly named patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, chose 37-year-old Father Loris Capovilla as his private secretary in 1953, a skeptical adviser told the cardinal that the priest looked too sickly to bear the strain of his new job. “Then he’ll die ...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
By Simone Orendain Catholic News Service MANILA, Philippines (CNS) — The Philippines’ newly named cardinal works in the heart of the country’s Muslim region, and Muslims as well as Catholics praised him and his work. The chief peace negotiator of the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose administrative camp is on ...read more
  By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When Cardinal-designate Beniamino Stella joins the College of Cardinals Feb. 22, he will bring with him decades of experience working in developing nations and handling highly-charged situations of conflict. Twenty years working as a papal nuncio and six years serving as head of the ...read more
By Lise Alves Catholic News Service SAO PAULO (CNS) — Cardinal-designate Orani Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro said he was surprised that Pope Francis named him a cardinal, but friends and thousands of Brazilian Catholics saw it coming. At the end of World Youth Day in July in Rio de Janeiro, several Brazilian newspapers and ...read more