Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals on Wednesday but there were no Canadians on his list that included 10 Italians and two Americans.
Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals on Wednesday but there were no Canadians on his list that included 10 Italians and two Americans. CNS photo

Pope Benedict excludes Canada from new cardinals

By 
  • October 20, 2010

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI named 24 new cardinals on Wednesday but there were no Canadians on his list that included 10 Italians and two Americans.

It was widely anticipated that the Pope would name a Canadian to the body whose primary responsibility is selecting the pontiff.

Currently, Montreal archbishop Jean-Claude Turcotte is the only cardinal residing in Canada. In August, Cardinal Marc Ouellet took an important position in the Vatican. In January, former Toronto archbishop Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic of Toronto turned 80 and became ineligible to vote in papal conclaves.

Toronto archbishop Thomas Collins, 63, was considered a front-runner to become a cardinal in keeping with a tradition begun in 1946 that the archbishop of Canada's largest diocese be led by a cardinal.

Instead, Benedict opted for an older Vatican tradition in which a disproportionate number of cardinals are chosen from Italy. With yesterday's announcement, there are now 25 Italian members of the College of Cardinals who eligible to vote in papal elections.

Two of the new Italian cardinals are over 80. Bishop Elio Sgreccia, retired president of the Pontifical Academy for Life is 82 and Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, retired director of the Sistine Chapel Choir is 93.

The youngest new cardinals are Swiss Archbishop Kurt Koch and Polish Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw. Both are 60.

The Pope said the new “princes of the church” will be formally elevated at a ceremony in Rome on Nov 20.

Here is the complete list of new cardinals listed in the order they were announced by Pope Benedict.

 

  • Italian Archbishop Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints Causes, a Salesian, 72. (DOB 6/8/1938)
  • Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria, Egypt, 75. (DOB 3/7/1935)
  • Guinean Archbishop Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, 65. (DOB 6/15/1945)
  • Italian Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, 76. (DOB 5/28/1934)
  • Italian Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, 75. (DOB 8/6/1935)
  • U.S. Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, head of Apostolic Signature, 62. (DOB 6/30/1948)
  • Swiss Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, 60. (DOB 3/15/1950)
  • Italian Archbishop Paolo Sardi, pro-patron of Knights of Malta, 76. (DOB 9/1/1934)
  • Italian Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, 66. (DOB 9/15/1944)
  • Italian Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See, a Scalabrinian, 75. (DOB 9/19/1935)
  • Italian Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, 68. (DOB 10/18/1942)
  • Zambian Archbishop Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, retired archbishop of Lusaka, 79. (DOB 9/24/1931)
  • Ecuadorean Archbishop Raul Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, retired archbishop of Quito, 76. (DOB 1/1/1934)
  • Congolese Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, 71. (DOB 10/7/1939)
  • Italian Archbishop Paolo Romeo of Palermo, 72. (DOB 2/20/1938)
  • U.S. Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, 69. (DOB 11/12/1940)
  • Brazilian Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, 73. (DOB 2/15/1937)
  • Polish Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw, 60. (DOB 2/1/1950)
  • Sri Lankan Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don of Colombo, 62. (DOB 11/15/1947)
  • German Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, 57. (DOB 9/21/1953)
  • Spanish Archbishop Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, former military ordinary of Spain, 84. (DOB 1/1/1926)
  • Italian Bishop Elio Sgreccia, retired president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, 82. (DOB 6/6/1928)
  • German Msgr. Walter Brandmuller, retired president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, 81. (DOB 1/26/1929)
  • Italian Msgr. Domenico Bartolucci, retired director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, 93. (DOB 5/7/1917)
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