This day in history—a windfall for the Saint Gallen Mafia
By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Feb 21, 2019
On this date—February 21, the feast of St. Peter Damian—18 years ago, at a Vatican consistory, Pope John Paul II raised 38 prelates to the College of Cardinals. Among the men who received red hats that day are the following, who are very much in the news this week, amid the discussion of the sex-abuse scandal:
- Walter Kasper
- Cormac Murphy-O’Connor
- Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga
- Francisco Errazuriz Ossa
and, lest we forget, - Jorge Mario Bergoglio.
Oh, and one other:
- Theodore McCarrick.
Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org. See full bio.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
