Pope Benedict on Wednesday appointed Archbishop John
Olorunfemi Onaiyekan and five others from around the world to join the elite
group of prelates who will one day choose his successor.
Onaiyekan is
the current Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja. He was also a former President
of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
The ceremony,
known as a consistory, will be held on November 24, the pope said in a surprise
announcement at his weekly general audience.
Also named to
join the group known as the “princes” of the Catholic Church are Archbishop
James Michael Harvey, an American who runs the pontifical household, Beatitude
Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and
Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, the major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in
India.
Others are –
Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Colombia, and Archbishop Luis Antonio
Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.
Reuters says
all of the six new cardinals are under 80 years old and thus eligible under
Church law to enter a conclave to elect a new pope. The elite group is known as
“cardinal electors.”
After the
consistory, the number of cardinal electors will rise again to 120, the maximum
allowed under Church law.
The total
number of men in the College of Cardinals will be 211.
It was the
fifth time since his election in 2005 that Benedict, 85, has named new
cardinals.
The pope’s
health is generally believed to be good but he has been looking frail recently.
Source: The Nation
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