"I want to highlight in particular the fact that the Church is the Church of all peoples, so she speaks in the various cultures of the different continents," the Pope said during the hour-long service in St Peter's Basilica, Rome.

"Amid the polyphony of the various voices, she raises a single harmonious song to the living God."

He added: "What makes the Church catholic is the fact that Christ in his saving mission embraces all humanity."

The six new cardinals from four different continents represented two Eastern Catholic Churches as well as the Latin rite.

They were: United States Archbishop James M. Harvey, 63, former prefect of the papal household; Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, 72; Indian Archbishop Baselio Cleemis Thottunkal, 53, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; Nigerian Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, 68, of Abuja; Colombian Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez, 70, of Bogota; and Philippine Archbishop Luis Tagle, 55, of Manila.

The new Eastern Catholic cardinals received modified versions of the biretta, consistent with the distinctive clerical garb of their churches. Cardinal Rai received the turban-like Maronite tabieh, and Cardinal Cleemis a head covering in a shape reminiscent of an onion dome.

The consistory increased the College of Cardinals to 211 members, 120 of whom are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.

Though fewer than 24 per cent of the world's Catholic live in Europe, 52 per cent of the voting cardinals still come from that continent, with 23 per cent from Italy.

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Catholic News Agency

Vatican Information Service

Image: The Hindu

The nation that has the largest number of Catholics today is Brazil, with 134 million, more than Italy, France, and Spain put together. Catholicism there has successfully confronted fierce competition, which in recent decades inflicted serious damage on it. Because when liberation theology was in fashion among the neo-Marxist Catholic élite, the faithful did not convert en masse to their message. They went over by the millions to the new Pentecostalist Churches, with their festive celebrations, music, singing, healings, speaking in tongues. But now this exodus has stopped.

In the Catholic Church as well, the faithful are finding the warmth of participation and firmness of doctrine that three and four centuries ago brought success to the Reductions, the Jesuit missions among the Indians. Next year, world youth day will be in Brazil. Pope Joseph Ratzinger has promised that he will be there.

Then there are the Asian tigers. South Korea is the emblem of these. There the number of Catholics is rising at an astonishing rate, with tens of thousands of adults baptized each year. They were the soul of the popular movement that peacefully overthrew the military dictatorship. And they are an active part of the productive classes that produced the Korean economic miracle. In the capital, Seoul, they are now 15 percent of the population, when only half a century ago they didn't even exist. And as in a big company, the Korean Catholic Church has set itself the goal of converting 20 percent of the population by 2020: "Evangelization Twenty Twenty" is the title of the program.

In Asia, the Philippines is the only nation in which Catholics are in the majority, with 76 million faithful. But beyond Korea, Catholicism is on the rise in various other countries. Even where it is most persecuted, like in China.

Sources

• UCA News
• Image: The Learning Diary of an Israeli Water Engineer