Pope’s newest cardinals mostly European, insiders
For Americans who take note of the pomp and circumstance—and
politics— at the Vatican, the big news in January was that Pope Benedict
XVI had included New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and former Baltimore
Archbishop Edwin O'Brien among the 22 churchmen that he will install
as cardinals at a mass at St. Peter's.
The elevation of Dolan, 61,
is not unexpected. His predecessor, retired Cardinal Edward Egan, will
lose his vote in a papal conclave when he turns 80 in April. Popes have
traditionally wanted to ensure that New York is represented in the
College of Cardinals for any future papal election.
But the larger
story of the January 6 appointments—and an indication of how the next
conclave may play out—is that the German pope continued his pattern of
stacking the College of Cardinals with Europeans (mainly Italians) and
with leaders of the Roman curia, the papal bureaucracy whose officials
are often considered more conservative than prelates in dioceses around
the world.
