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Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday announced that he would create six new cardinals during a consistory on November 24, the eve of the feast of Christ the King.
The new cardinals include 63-year-old U.S. Archbishop James M. Harvey, prefect of the papal household; Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72; Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, 68; Colombian Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, 70; and Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle of Manila, 55.
The pope made the announcement at the end of his weekly general audience, which was attended by about 20,000 pilgrims.
Pope Benedict said he had the “great joy” of announcing new cardinals, adding that cardinals have “the task of helping the successor of Peter in his ministry” of strengthening people’s faith and promoting the unity of the church.
The pope asked Catholics to pray that the new cardinals would “always love Christ and his church with courage and dedication.”
Of the six soon-to-be cardinals, only Cardinal-designates Harvey and Salazar were not members of the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization, which was meeting at the Vatican when the pope made his announcement.
The late-November consistory will bring the total number of cardinals to 211 and the number of cardinals under age 80 to 120. Until they reach their 80th birthdays, cardinals are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.
Pope Paul VI limited the number of cardinal-electors to 120. After the Nov. 1 birthday of Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze and the Nov. 23 birthday of Italian Cardinal Renato Martino, there will be six vacancies.
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