Catholic World News News Feature

The October consistory: schedule and background October 02, 2003

The Vatican has published the official schedule for the October 21 consistory at which Pope John Paul II will create 30 new cardinals.

The consistory-- the 9th of this pontificate-- will be held in St. Peter's Square. After the ceremony the new cardinals will go to different rooms around the Vatican to receive the traditional courtesy greetings and congratulations from acquaintances. On the following day they will receive the rings symbolic of their new stature at a Mass.

Pope John Paul II called the consistory on September 28, naming 30 cardinals and disclosing that he would elevate one more prelate in pectore . That 31st cardinal-- whose name is not divulged, for practical or political reasons-- does not assume the rights and duties of a cardinal until his name is revealed.

For several months, Vatican-watchers had expected the Pope to call a consistory, although most observers had expected that the date would be set in February 2004. The scheduling of a consistory in October-- coming soon after a week of heavy activity at the Vatican-- was a mild surprise. But with the number of cardinals eligible to vote in a conclave steadily dropping, because of deaths and because many cardinals have reached their 80th birthdays, the Pope clearly wanted to broaden the membership in the College of Cardinals.

Among the 30 clerics named to become cardinals, 26 are now bishops, and will become cardinal-electors. (The remaining 4 are priests who are already above the age of 80; for them the rank of cardinal will be a great honor without new duties.) These prelates do not actually enjoy the rank of cardinal-- and are not qualified to participate in a conclave-- until they actually receive their red hats, and the papal bull is read on October 21 confirming their creation. Each new cardinal will also be named as the titular pastor of a church in the Rome diocese, since the College of Cardinals represents the clergy of Rome.

At the actual ceremony of the consistory, the highlight comes when each prelate kneels before the Pope to receive the small, square, red silk hat which marks his status as Prince of the Church. (In practice, these red hats are almost never worn today after the consistory, although cardinals do continue to wear red vestments.) The red hats are bestowed after the new cardinals swear their fidelity to the Roman Pontiff and his successors and to the Church. There is no Mass during this ceremony.

After the ceremony, the new cardinals receive their families and friends in designated locations around the Vatican. The Paul VI auditorium is used for these receptions, as are the larger rooms in the apostolic palace; this is one of the infrequent occasions when the apostolic palace is open to the public.

The next day, the Pope will preside at a solemn Mass, again in St. Peter's Square, during which he gives each new cardinal a ring symbolic of his office.

While awaiting the day of the consistory, the newly named cardinals must prepare by purchasing an entire new clerical wardrobe. While a bishop wears a purple cassock for formal ceremonies (or black trimmed with purple for ordinary affairs), a cardinal wears the bright red that is meant to symbolize his willingness to die for the faith if necessary. A complete tailored outfit for a new cardinal-- including everything from the red cassock to the red socks-- can cost from $2,500 to $6,000. Ordinarily that cost is absorbed by the cardinal's diocese or religious order.

At the last consistory, in February 2001, Pope John Paul II recalled that a cardinal is called to "a witness that can require the heroism of a total gift of himself to God and to his brothers." The best known duty of a cardinal, of course, is to participate in the election of a new Pope-- a function that the College of Cardinals has carried out since that role was established by Pope Nicholas II in 1059. Cardinals also play a consultative role, working with Vatican dicasteries and occasionally gathering in consistories.

There are three sorts of consistories. In an "ordinary private" consistory, the cardinals who are working at the Vatican or visiting Rome gather to vote their formal approval of decrees prepared by the Roman Curia, such as the decrees authorizing beatifications or canonizations. An "ordinary public" consistory is an event like the one scheduled for October 21, in which cardinals gather from all around the world for the installation of new members of their College. And an "extraordinary" consistory is called by the Pope when he wants to consult with the College about a particular matter.

Pope John Paul has called five extraordinary consistories during his pontificate, to discuss questions as diverse as the Vatican's financial concerns and the fight to protect human life. He had already called the cardinals to Rome for a meeting October 16- 18, to assess the 25 years of his pontificate. Since 1919, Church law has stipulated that cardinals must be priests. In 1962, Pope John XXIII added the requirement that they must normally be bishops, or be ordained as bishops when they become cardinals. But the Pope can waive that rule, choosing simple priests as cardinals. And these priests can choose to remain simple priests-- as for example the French Jesuit Henri de Lubac did when he became a cardinal in 1983.

The College of Cardinals is divided into cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests, and cardinal-deacons. These distinctions are now almost entirely honorific. They are reminders of the historic origin of the College, which was born in the 12th century as an assembly of the clergy of Rome. At that time, the bishops of the four surrounding dioceses were the cardinal-bishops, the pastors of the city's major parishes were the cardinal-priests, and the deacons who assisted the Bishop of Rome were the cardinal-deacons.

The term "cardinal" derives from the Latin word for "hinge," since the cardinals were said to occupy a fixed position, on which the future of the Church turned.