“By appointing the new cardinals, I mean to go back to the number of 120 electors of the Cardinals’ Council" as established by Paul VI, explained Benedict XVI before reading the list of prelates to be appointed cardinals in the consistory of March 24th. The first one is mgr. William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, followed by mgr. Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life; mgr. Agostino Vallini, prefect of the High Court of the Apostolic Signatura; mgr. Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas; mgr. Gaidencio B. Rosales, archbishop of Manila; mgr. Jean-Pierre Ricard, archbishop of Bordeaux; mgr. Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo; mgr. Nicolas Cheong-Jin-Suk, archbishop of Seoul; the capuchin father Sean Patrick O’Malley, archbishop of Boston; mgr. Stanislaw Dziwisz, archbishop of Cracow; mgr. Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna, and finally mgr. Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun, bishop of Hong Kong. In addition to them, Benedict XVI decided to raise to the cardinal ranks three prelates aged over eighty, “in the light he said of the services they rendered to the Church with exemplary faithfulness and admirable devotion”. They are mgr. Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, archpriest of the Basilica di S.Paolo fuori le Mura; mgr. Peter Poreku Dery, emeritus archbishop of Tamale (Ghana), and the Jesuit Albert Vanhoye, ex rector of the Papal Biblical Institute and Secretary of the Papal Biblical Committee. In addition, the Pope announced that the day after the consistory, March 25th, the feast of the Annunciation of the Lord, he will hold a solemn celebration with the new cardinals to which all the members of the Cardinals’ Council are invited.
