It's Song And Dance As Njue is Made Nation's Second Cardinal

John Cardinal Njue

Function: Archbishop of Nairobi

Title:

Birthdate: Jan 1, 2000	Country: Kenya

Elevated: Nov 24, 2007	More information:

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It's Song And Dance As Njue is Made Nation's Second Cardinal
Nov 27, 2007
Kenyans waving the national flag broke into dance and song on Saturday when the country got its second cardinal at a ceremony presided over by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

Catholic Information Service for Africa (Nairobi, 27 November 2007) The Kenyans, residents and students in Rome plus others who had travelled to the Holy See for the ceremony, sang John Cardinal Njue's favourite Swahili hymn, Ni Baraka kutoka kwa Mungu [It's God's blessing].

Njue was elevated to the College of the Cardinals close to five years since the death of the nation's first cardinal, Maurice Michael Otunga. He was formally inaugurated together with 22 other archbishops from around the world.

In the one-and-half hour colourful celebration, the Pope placed a red berretta (special red hat) on the new cardinals, replacing the purple one for every Catholic bishop.

In his homily to the over 8,000 faithful inside the basilica and over 30,000 following the proceedings from giant screens placed outside, the Pope congratulated the new Cardinals for being found worthy of the title and responsibility. He urged them to defend the faith even if it cost their lives.

The pontiff pointed out that creation of the new cardinals was as result of pastoral needs in the Church in all the five continents they represented.

Together with Cardinal Njue were also Cardinal Theodore Adrien Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar, Senegal, and Cardinal Emmanuel Delly III, Patriarch in Iraq. The pope paid great tribute to the patriarch and pledged his closeness and affection to Iraqis in their moments of pain. He prayed for lasting peace in that land.

On Sunday, the new cardinals were each given a ring by the Pope.

Njue, born in 1944 in Embu District in a family of twelve, was ordained a priest in 1973 at St Peter's Rome where he returned to be made a cardinal.

Present at the ceremony at the Basilica in Rome were many pilgrims from Kenya led by the Kenyan Ambassador to the Holy See, Raychelle A. Omamo, and the Kenyan Ambasador to Italy, Anne Belinda Nyikuli.

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