Picture: Onaiyekan, 5 others, sworn-in as Cardinals in the Vatican

Posted by admin Headlines Saturday, November 24th, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI has sworn in the archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria,
John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan and five others into the College of
Cardinals on Saturday at the Vatican.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pope told the new cardinals that their
elevation represents “the fact that the church is the church of all
peoples, and so she speaks in the various cultures of the different
continents.”

The five other new cardinals are: Archbishop James Harvey,of the
USA who doubles as prefect of the papal household, Manila
Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, Colombia Archbishop Ruben
Salazar Gomez; the Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in
Lebanon, His Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai; and Archbishop of
the Trivandrum of the Siro-Malankaresi in India, His Beatitude
Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

Though Cardinals serve as the pope’s closest advisers, their most
publicised assignment is to elect a new pope among their ranks
whenever the seat becomes vacant.

The voting age for cardinals is under 80. Out of the 120 cardinals
under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new
pope 62 are Europeans, Latin America 21; North America, 14;
Africa, 11; Asia, 11; and Oceania, one.

Critics have said the college of cardinals is too dominated by the
Europeans, a region where the church struggles to grow as against
the church’s growth in Latin America and Africa.

Cardinal Onaiyekan and the other new cardinals are all under age
80. Their nominations bring the number of voting-age cardinals to
120, 67 of whom were elevated by the 85 years old Pope Benedict.
His successes or will be chosen among these prelates in red robe.

After the ceremony, the cardinals received visitors in the frescoed
rooms of the Apostolic Palace. Nigeria’s Senate President David
Mark led federal government’s delegation to the Vatican to witness
the ceremony.
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