When I feel depressed about all the global suffering in the world, I find solace and hope in the Baha’i writings. To be a Baha’i means to love humanity and...
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The last ordinary public consistory to create new cardinals took place on Sept. 30, 2023. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Dec 6, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).
On Saturday, Dec. 7, Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals at a consistory in Rome, including the archbishops of Tehran, Iran; Tokyo; and Toronto.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Cardinals are the pope’s closest assistants and advisers from all around the world. A consistory is a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals. The pope can convene them for a number of reasons.
One of the most common reasons for a consistory, as is the case here, is to create new cardinals. The ceremony in which the pope makes cardinals is known as an ordinary public consistory.
Another consistory the pope may convene is an ordinary consistory to vote on the causes of new saints, the last step before a formal canonization can take place.
There are also extraordinary consistories, in which every cardinal is expected to take part, barring a serious reason.
The last ordinary public consistory to create new cardinals took place on Sept. 30, 2023. The new cardinals included Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Cardinal Stephen Chow of Hong Kong; and Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Twenty-one men from around the world will “receive the red hat” and become cardinals at the consistory this month.
Among them is Archbishop Frank Leo, metropolitan archbishop of Toronto in Canada; Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, SVD, metropolitan archbishop of Tokyo in Japan; Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, a Belgian missionary bishop in Iran; Father Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary for the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development (from Italy); Father Timothy Radcliffe, OP, a theologian from the United Kingdom; and Archbishop Domenico Battaglia of Naples, Italy.
A list along with an analysis of each cardinal-elect’s spiritual motto and coat of arms can be found here.
In addition to giving each new cardinal their hat, or biretta, Pope Francis at the Dec. 7 liturgy at St. Peter’s Basilica will place a ring on the hand of each new cardinal while saying: “Receive this ring from the hand of Peter and know that, with the love of the prince of the apostles, your love for the Church is strengthened.” They will also each receive the formal decree (or papal bull) announcing their creation as a cardinal.
The scarlet biretta is, as the pope will recite, a “sign of the dignity of the cardinalate, signifying your readiness to act with courage, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people of God, and for the freedom and growth of the holy Roman Church.”
Immediately before, the new cardinals will make a profession of faith by reciting the Creed. They then pronounce an oath of fidelity and obedience to the pope and his successors.
The pope will also assign each new cardinal a church in the Diocese of Rome, called a “titular church.” This further links the cardinal to Rome and to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome.
The other members of the College of Cardinals, clergy, Catholics, and members of the public may all attend a consistory to create cardinals.
St. Paul VI established in 1970 that cardinals aged 80 and over cannot participate in the process of electing a pope — thus, cardinals who are younger than 80 are known as “electors.” Paul VI also established a numerical limit for the number of electors, capping it at 120, but the number occasionally has risen above that number.
The number of cardinal electors in the college — and indeed the number of cardinals in general — is always changing, since at any time cardinals may be celebrating their 80th birthday or may have died.
As of October of this year, 15 members of the College of Cardinals have turned 80 since the last consistory, thus losing their chance to participate in a future papal election, according to the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner.
After the December consistory, there will be 141 cardinal electors (barring the unexpected death of any of the cardinals) — 111 (79%) of whom have been appointed by Pope Francis.
Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has created 142 cardinals from 70 countries at nine consistories.
St. Nicholas, by Jaroslav Čermák (1831-1878). / Credit: Galerie Art Praha via Wikimedia (public domain)
Vatican City, Dec 6, 2024 / 04:00 am (CNA).
St. Nicholas, whose feast day is celebrated on Dec. 6, is known to possibly be the real-life inspiration for the beloved Christmas character of Santa Claus.
Not a lot is known about the historical Nicholas, who was bishop of Myra, a Greek city in modern-day Turkey, during the fourth century A.D.
But there are many stories and legends that explain his reputation as a just and upright man, charitable gift-giver, and miracle-worker.
Here are five things to know and share about St. Nicholas:
Many people know that St. Nicholas is the patron saint of children, but they may not know why he has that title.
There is a grisly legend that says that during a famine in Myra, three young boys were lured into a butcher’s shop, where they were killed and then brined in a wooden barrel with the intention of being sold as “ham.” The good bishop worked a miracle, bringing the pickled children back to life and saving them from a gruesome fate.
This story became the subject of many portrayals of Nicholas in art, especially during the Middle Ages. Some people believe depictions of Bishop Nicholas with the three boys led to his reputation as a protector of children.
The legend of the brining may explain how he also became, oddly, the patron saint of brewers and coopers (people who make wooden casks, barrels, vats, troughs, and similar containers from timber).
St. Nicholas is a unifying figure among Catholics and Orthodox Christians since both churches venerate him.
He is incredibly important in the Russian Orthodox Church, where he is known as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for the many miracles attributed to him both during and after his life.
To the Orthodox, Nicholas is principally honored for his qualities as a holy bishop and a good shepherd of his people.
Also, in their weekly liturgical cycle, which dedicates different days of the week to Jesus Christ and other saints, only three are specifically named: Mary, the Mother of God, John the Forerunner (known to Catholics as St. John the Baptist), and St. Nicholas.
Nicholas did not leave behind any theological writings, but when he was made a bishop, he is credited with saying that “this dignity and this office demand different usage, in order that one should live no longer for oneself but for others.”
Because of his popularity among Orthodox Christians, St. Nicholas is a favorite subject in iconography.
But don’t be surprised if, among the hundreds of icons depicting him, you don’t see any merry dimples or a “round little belly.” He does have a white beard, though.
One of the most popular legends about Nicholas is that the saint, who is said to have come from a wealthy family, secretly helped a poor man with three daughters.
The father could not provide proper dowries for the girls to marry, and without husbands to support them, they might have been forced to turn to prostitution.
After learning about the situation, Nicholas secretly slipped a bag of gold coins through the family’s window while they were sleeping. He later left a second bag of coins, and likewise, another bag for the third daughter, at which point, the legend says, the father, who had waited up all night, “caught” Nicholas red-handed in his gift-giving. But Nicholas made him promise to keep the secret.
The story is likely the explanation for why the modern Christmas character of Santa Claus brings his gifts for children under the cover of night.
In artworks referencing this legend, the three bags of coins are often depicted as three golden balls. Images of gold balls were also used to mark the shops of pawnbrokers, which is probably how Nicholas came to be their patron saint, too.
One of many miracles attributed to St. Nicholas happened at sea as he traveled aboard a boat to the Holy Land. Nicholas is a patron saint of sailors and travelers because he calmed the stormy waters that threatened their lives.
His patronage of the falsely accused can be attributed to an early story about his rescue of three innocent men moments before their execution. It is said that St. Nicholas, then bishop of Myra, boldly pushed away the executioner’s sword, released the men from their chains, and angrily reprimanded a juror who had taken a bribe to find them guilty.
Most people know that Nicholas’ feast day is celebrated on Dec. 6, the day he died in the year 343, but for East Slavs, as well as the people of Bari, Italy, May 9 is also an important day to celebrate the saint.
That date is the anniversary of the day that St. Nicholas’ relics were moved from Myra, in present-day Turkey, to Bari, not long after the Great Schism of Catholics and Orthodox in 1054 A.D.
Accounts differ over whether the transmission of the relics was theft or an attempt by Christian sailors to preserve the saint’s remains from destruction by the Turks. But whatever the real reason, the relics can still be venerated today in the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari.
Pope Francis has visited Bari, in Italy’s southern region of Puglia, two times during his papacy. During both the 2018 and 2020 visits, he stopped in the basilica’s crypt to venerate St. Nicholas’ relics.
The pontifical basilica is an important place of ecumenism, since the Catholic Church welcomes many Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians to the pilgrimage site. In the crypt, where St. Nicholas is buried, there is also an altar for the celebration of Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgies.
For Christians who follow the Julian calendar, as the Eastern Orthodox do, St. Nicholas’ principal feast day falls on Dec. 19. An Orthodox Divine Liturgy is usually celebrated at the Basilica of St. Nicholas that morning.
On Dec. 6, Catholics in Bari celebrate the beloved saint with Mass, concerts, and a procession of the saint’s statue through the city’s streets.
This story was first published on Dec. 6, 2022, and has been updated.
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