Pope to make Archbishop Rosales cardinal
Feb 25, 2006
Pope Benedict XVI has chosen Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales as among the first 15 cardinals of his pontificate, the Philippine bishops’ office said Wednesday.
(INQ7.net, Feb 22, 2006) The pope also named as cardinal a fierce critic of the Chinese government during his weekly general audience at the Vatican Wednesday.
Rosales’ elevation as a “Prince of the Church” was announced by Archbishop Antonio Franco, apostolic nuncio to the Philippines, during a mass at the Manila Cathedral, said Mark Tallara, media relations assistant at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines media office.
The 73-year-old prelate was also named elector in the College of Cardinals.
Rosales is the sixth Filipino to become cardinal and the third still living. The two others are Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Emeritus of Rome Jose Cardinal Sanchez.
Rosales took the place of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin as archbishop of the Philippines’ biggest and oldest archdiocese of Manila on November 21, 2003.
During his term as archbishop of Lipa City, he was an influential voice in the people’s fight against environmentally destructive firms in the province of Batangas.
In the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI also named as cardinal Hong Kong Archbishop Joseph Zen Ze-Kiun -- a fierce critic of the socialist government of China.
Zen is seen as an activist for greater religious freedom in China and a prominent critic of Beijing, which does not recognize the Vatican.
He is one of three Asian archbishops to be elevated to cardinal, along with Rosales and Seoul archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin Suk.
The 15 archbishops would be elevated at a consistory at the Vatican on March 24, said Benedict, the former cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who was elected pope on April 19 last year.
He also named two cardinals from the United States, former San Francisco Archbishop William Levada and Boston archbishop Patrick O'Malley.
Levada is now the Roman Catholic Church's doctrinal enforcer, having assumed the pope's former position.
The bearded O'Malley was chosen by John Paul II to succeed the disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law after he resigned from the Boston archdiocese, tainted by a spate of sex scandals involving pedophile priests.
Benedict said he would also elevate the late Pope John Paul II’s long-time private secretary, Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.
Twelve of the 15 cardinals -- including Rosales -- are currently under 80, the age limit for the right to vote in a conclave to choose a successor to Benedict.
Pope Paul VI decreed that the number of cardinal electors -- those under 80 -- should not exceed 120, and Wednesday's nominations will fill the places in the electoral College of Cardinals that will be vacant by the date of the consistory.
"On March 24 I will hold a consistory, for which I will nominate the new members of the College of Cardinals," Benedict told thousands of cheering pilgrims at his weekly general audience, before reading out the names.
Benedict told the crowd at the Vatican the March 24 date for the consistory was "particularly appropriate" as it is the day the Church celebrates the pontificate of St Peter, the first pope.
The 12 cardinal electors named Wednesday include three from the Roman Curia, or Vatican government -- Slovenian archbishop Franc Rode, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Religious; Agostino Vallini of Italy, head of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican's highest judicial tribunal; and the American Levada.
The others are Venezeulan Josge Urosa Savino, archbishop of Caracas; Spain's Antonio Canizares Llovera, archbishop of Toledo; the head of the French bishops' conference Jean-Pierre Ricard and Bologna Archbishop Carlo Caffarra.
Many Vatican watchers believe Hong Kong Archbishop Zen was secretly named as a cardinal by John Paul II at the last consistory in October 2003.
John Paul nominated 31 cardinals, but kept the identity of one a secret, or in Vatican parlance "in pectore" -- "close to the heart" -- a provision sometimes adopted by popes when the appointment is politically sensitive.
The pope died on April 2 last year without ever revealing the identity of the secret cardinal.
Pope to make Archbishop Rosales cardinal