Creating Cardinals: Ceremony Features Something Old, New, Borrowed, Red

Something old, something new, something borrowed and something red will be part of the mix Feb. 18 when Pope Benedict XVI creates 22 new cardinals.

The general format of the consistory has been maintained, but the ceremony has been modified and will include the use of prayers borrowed from ancient Roman liturgies. And, of course, red will be the color of the day as the new cardinals are reminded that they are called to give their lives to God and the church, even to the point of shedding their blood.

Tradition and innovation, solemnity and festivity, high honor and a call to sacrifice are key parts of the creation of new cardinals.

The hushed moment when a churchman kneels before the pope and receives his red hat as a cardinal contrasts sharply with the mood in the Apostolic Palace that same evening when the public — literally anyone who wants to come — is invited in to congratulate the new cardinals.

Pope Benedict will create the new cardinals in the morning during an “ordinary public consistory” in St. Peter’s Basilica. That same evening, the Bronze Doors will open and the public will be allowed to swarm up the Scala Regia — the royal stairway — and into the Apostolic Palace to meet and greet the new cardinals.

A “consistory” is a gathering of cardinals with the pope. According to canon law, an ordinary consistory is called for consultation or for the celebration “of especially solemn acts,” such as the creation of new cardinals or a vote approving the canonization of candidates for sainthood.

And, in fact, the consistory Feb. 18 will include both. Immediately after the new cardinals are created, all the “princes of the church” are scheduled to vote on several new saints, including Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told Catholic News Service Feb. 1.

Normally, the public consistory for new saints is attended by cardinals living in Rome, but the creation of new cardinals is an opportunity for all of them to exercise their role as advisers to the pope. [More]

SOURCE

Catholic News Service