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Vol. 81, No. 4
Thursday, January 25, 2001
$.50 PER ISSUE
Pope names record 37 cardinals
from 22 countries, including 3 from U.S.
Ill——I 1 1—1— III I nil
Jesuit Father Avery Dulles, 82 (left), was among those named cardinals by Pope John Paul
January 21. Cardinal-designate Dulles is the first U.S. priest-theologian to be so honored.
Other Americans named cardinals were recently-installed Washington Archbishop
Theodore McCarrick, 70 (center), and New York Archbishop Edward M. Egan, 68 (right).
File photos from CNS.
By John Thavis
Vatican City (CNS)
ope John Paul II named a record-
high 37 new cardinals from 22
countries Jan. 21, including three
from the United States: Cardinals-
designate Edward M. Egan of New
York, Theodore E. McCarrick of
Washington and Avery Dulles, an 82-
year-old Jesuit theologian.
The new cardinals, who will for
mally accept their position at a con
sistory at the Vatican February 2T,
include 12 Vatican administrators
and nine residential archbishops from
Latin America—by far the largest
such group from any continent.
The biggest surprise was the size
of the pope’s list. Once again, the
pope waived the church’s technical
limit of 120 cardinals who are under
age 80 and therefore eligible to vote
in a papal conclave. He named 33
new voting-age cardinals, which
means that, barring any deaths, the
total will be 128 by the time of the
February 21 consistory.
With the new appointments, Pope
John Paul will have left an even
stronger personal mark on the Col
lege of Cardinals, having named 118
of the 128 elector-cardinals and 154
of the 178 cardinals overall. The 178
total was a record-high for the col
lege, which has grown rapidly in
recent decades.
Additionally, the pope said he
planned to divulge soon the names of
two cardinals he created in pectore
or in secret in 1998. Speculation has
focused on prelates working in
. Russia and China.
Announcing the list at his Sunday
blessing above Saint Peter’s Square,
the pope said many of the new cardi
nals were pastors who spend their
time and energy “in direct contact
with the faithful.”
“These new prelates come from
various parts of the world. Their
ranks well reflect the church’s uni
versality and multiplicity of min
istries,” he said.
The pope said many others might
have merited the appointment and
that he hoped he could name them in
the future—an oblique response to
those who have suggested that, hav
ing set a full roster for a potential
conclave, the 80-year-old pontiff
might choose to retire.
The new appointments included
three voting-age cardinals from Asia,
two from North America and one
from Africa.
Largely because of the Vatican
nominations, Europe picked up 15
under-80 cardinals, which will leave
the continent with 60 potential mem
bers of a conclave—about half the
total. Italy alone would account for
24 voting-age cardinals; seven of the
new nominations are Italian.
Latin America added 10 voting
members with the new appointments,
strengthening its position with 26
electors. By comparison, North
America and Asia would have 13
each, Africa 12, and Oceania 4.
The Latin American residential
archbishops who will become cardi
nals come from eight different coun
tries, representing archdioceses with
an average Catholic population of
3.5 million. They include Cardinal-
designate Juan Luis Cipriani Thome
of Lima, Pern, the first cardinal
member of the Opus Dei personal
prelature, and Honduran Cardinal-
designate Oscar Andres Rodriguez
Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, 58, who
has emerged as an important regional
church leader.
The appointments of Cardinals-
designate Egan, McCarrick and
Dulles will bring to 13 the number of
U.S. cardinals; all but Cardinal-des
ignate Dulles and retired Cardinal
James A. Hickey of Washington, 80,
would be eligible to vote in a con
clave. Only Italy and the United
States would have more than 10 vot
ing-age cardinals.
The pope continued the recent tra
dition of naming elderly theologians
cardinals as a sign of gratitude and
prestige. Cardinal-designate Dulles,
the son of former Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles, is considered by
many the dean of American theolo
gians and in recent years has been a
strong defender of the papacy.
The pope also named three other
80-year-old cardinals: a German
monsignor-theologian, Leo Scheff-
czyk, who has advised the Vatican on
family issues; Jean Honore, retired
archbishop of Tours, France; and
Stephanos II Ghattas, Coptic patri
arch in Egypt.
Two of the new cardinals were
clearly chosen with future positions
in mind:
-Cardinal-designate Walter Kasper,
67, secretary of the Pontifical Coun
cil for Promoting Christian Unity,
who is widely expected to head the
council after the retirement of
Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, now 76.
—Cardinal-designate Crescenzio
Sepe, secretary-general of the now-
dissolved Committee for the Great
(Continued on page 11)
Ministry to prisoners of WWII
Reflections for Christian Unity Week
Year of the Snake
—see page 3
—see page 4
—see page 6