The influence of the new cardinals

Cath News ^ | April 25, 2012

[NYer]

On Saturday April 21, a little more than two months after the last consistory, the new cardinals were finally assigned their positions as members of the various dicasteries of the Roman curia, the most important of which are the nine congregations.

This procedure indicates the real and specific influence of each cardinal in assisting Benedict XVI in the governance of the universal Church.

The most prestigious congregation of the Roman curia is the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, to which three of the new cardinals have been appointed: the Indian George Alencherry, the leading archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, and the Italian curia members Fernando Filoni, prefect of "Propaganda Fide," and Francesco Coccopalmerio, president of the pontifical council for legislative texts.

But the congregations with the greatest influence in the life of the Catholic Church are those that assist the pope most closely in the selection of new bishops. And these are the congregation for bishops (for the dioceses of Europe and the Americas, the Philippines and Australia), for the Eastern Churches (for Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and India), and for the evangelization of peoples (for the dioceses in mission territory, above all in Africa and Asia).

Four of the new cardinals, all of them from the curia, have been selected as members of the congregation for bishops. They are the Portuguese Manuel Monteiro de Castro, until January the secretary of this same dicastery and now the major penitentiary, the Spaniard Santos Abril y Castelló, archpriest of the basilica of Saint Mary Major, and the Italians Giuseppe Bertello, president of the governorate of Vatican City, and Giuseppe Versaldi, president of the prefecture of economic affairs of the Holy See.

All four of these churchmen, and Versaldi in particular, are highly esteemed by Cardinal Bertone. Monteiro, Abril, and Bertello have been apostolic nuncios. Abril and Bertello have also been appointed as members of "Propaganda Fide."

Bertello and Versaldi, like Bertone and Giovanni Lajolo, who are already members, come from Piedmont, bringing to four the number of members who come from this region of Italy and making it the one most represented in the congregation for bishops, followed by Liguria with two members.

In this dicastery, headed by the Canadian Marc Ouellet, out of 33 members, 29 of whom are cardinals and four bishops, the Italians are ten in all, with eight cardinals and two bishops. The other nations most represented are the United States with four, Germany and Spain with three, and France and Poland with two.

 

FULL ANALYSIS

New senators in the curia. A ranking (www.chiesa)

[NYer]

Ping!

[Salvation]

God bless Pope Benedict XVI. Why do I have the judgment he is doing some housecleaning? I really know nothing about these cardinals.

[battousai]

Your post seems to sum up ‘Protestant hate’ quite well.

Carry on then...

[Mach9]

Thanks for that truly elucidating observation. Some folks, not necessarily baseball fans, remember the batting average of another cardinal—a Pollack, as I recall—who contributed as much to the outcome of the cold war as the mick who was running this country.

Find another outlet, Hap. This one’s clearly out of your league.

[Happy Rain]

OK, perhaps we should first address “Catholic Love” starting with the Crusades—then on to the Inquisition and the Jesuits in America—but only in the condensed version of course—life being short and all that.

But do go on about “Protestant hate” FRiend, you have me amused.

[A.A. Cunningham]

I’d wager that your family tree has no branches.

[narses]

+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

[Salvation]

Where, oh, where are you getting all this information? Any sources, or are you just Catholic Bashing?

[Happy Rain]

And yours no hominids.

[Happy Rain]

Catholic teasing is more like it—there are a lot of RCC threads on FR and I just felt like ruffling a few.

Christians is Christians and if they are conservative that’s all that matters to me.

[A.A. Cunningham]

What’s the matter, did your regularly scheduled cross burning tonight get canceled due to inclement weather?

[sneakers]

It seems that every time there is an interesting thread pertaining to the Catholic church, the Catholic haters show up. Can’t we have just one thread where the discussion centers on the subject of the thread? I was hoping to read that the pope had appointed cardinals who were more traditional. Shouldn’t this be a caucus thread?

[battousai]

OK, perhaps we should first address “Catholic Love” starting with the Crusades—then on to the Inquisition and the Jesuits in America—but only in the condensed version of course—life being short and all that.

Ah the tired old historic misrepresentations that the left love to use against the Church, I think you took a wrong turn at DU, sure you belong on FR? LOL

[annalex]

The Crusades: the war of liberation of Eastern Christendom from Muslim invaders.

The Holy Inquisition: the ecclesial court whose task it is to get rid of corrupt Catholic clergy. We sorely need one in the United States today.

The Jesuits: colleges, universities, hospitals, protection of the indigenous population from colonizers.

Like anything else the Holy Mother Church does, they are acts of love.

As someone already remarked on this thread, it would be a good idea to educate yourself on the matters you are posting about.

May the Lord bless the Holy Father richly and give him a long pontificate.

[annalex]

Every now and then it’s fun to beat up on them. Sort of like the crusades.

[Salvation]

The Catholic Caucus delineation is the choice of the poster. I probably would have done it, but no harm.

People can show up and post their misunderstandings. We can just knock them down.

I do believe, though, that Pope Benedict would not be selecting Cardinals who were not on the conservative side.

God bless his abundantly

[Salvation]

The Catholic Caucus delineation is the choice of the poster. I probably would have done it, but no harm.

People can show up and post their misunderstandings. We can just knock them down.

I do believe, though, that Pope Benedict would not be selecting Cardinals who were not on the conservative side.

God bless him abundantly