NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

UNEXPECTED GESTURE FROM THE POPE

An Apcom item, translated:




VATICAN CITY, Nov. 24 (Aopcom) - Pope Benedict XVI today unexpectedly came out to the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica to greet the tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, at the end of the consistory held within the Basilica.

Here is a translation of what he said:

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Dear brothers and sisters!

Welcome here, on the Piazza. Thank you for your presence. We have had rain today and so we were inside the Basilica. You stayed out here courageously and prayed with us.

I thank you for your prayerful presence, and for your participation in this important event for the Catholic Church. The new cardinals reflect the universality of the Church, her catholicity: the Church speaks in all languages, it embraces all peoples and all cultures.

We are all, together, the family of God. And as a family, we are gathered here to pray that the Lord bless these new cardinals in the service of all. Let us pray that our Lady may be with us at every step.

I wish you all a good weekend and safe return. Thank you for your presence. Arrivederci, and have a good day!

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The crowd on St. Peter's Square followed the consistory rite on giant TV screens, on a day of strong winds and unseasonal cold. The unfavorable weather forecast had led to the decision to hold the rite inside the Basilica rather than outdoors.




Pope makes new cardinals,
calls for end to Iraq war
By Philip Pullella


VATICAN CITY, Nov. 24 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, elevating 23 prelates from around the world to the elite rank of cardinal, made a pressing appeal on Saturday for an end to the war in Iraq and decried the plight of the country's Christian minority.

One of the new cardinals is Emmanuel III Delly, the Baghdad-based Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, and the Pope used the solemn occasion, known as a consistory, to express his concern for Iraq.

The other new cardinals come from Italy, Ireland, Germany, the United States, Spain, India, Argentina, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Senegal, Brazil and France.

Speaking of Delly during the ceremony in St Peter's Basilica, Benedict said Christians in Iraq were "feeling with their own flesh the dramatic consequences of an enduring conflict ... "

The Chaldeans are Iraq's biggest Christian group and the Chaldean rite is one of the most ancient of the Catholic Church.

Many Iraqi Chaldeans have emigrated since the war started. The Vatican has expressed concern before that one of the countries with the oldest Christian traditions could be depleted of its faithful as many leave to escape the violence.

"Let us together reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and invoke from the merciful God the coming of longed-for reconciliation and peace for all the peoples involved (in the conflict)," he said in his homily.

Wearing gold embroidered vestments, the Pope said in his sermon that he had chosen the Iraqi patriarch as a cardinal to express his spiritual closeness to suffering Iraqis.

Eighteen of the new cardinals are under 80 and eligible under Church rules to enter a secret conclave to elect a new pope after Benedict's death. The other five, including Delly, are over 80 and were given the honor for symbolic reasons or to thank them for long service to the Church.

The Pope bestowed the new "princes of the Church" with a biretta, a red hat whose color is meant to remind them that they may one day be called upon to shed their blood for the faith and the Church.


Right photo, Cardinal Schoenborn greets Cardinal Delly.

While the normal biretta has four corners and three vertical protruding fins, the Pope gave Delly a round hat in keeping with the sartorial tradition of the Chaldeans.



Delly received the most applause and supporters waved an Iraqi flag during the service.

Cardinals are the Pope's closest aides. They lead major dioceses around the world, head Vatican departments and advise him on matters affecting everything from faith to finances.

The new "electors" include Archbishop John Patrick Foley, a former Vatican official from the United States, Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, and Archbishop Paul Joseph Cordes, a German based in the Vatican.

Archbishops Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris, Oswald Gracias of Bombay, Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey, Mexico, John Njue of Nairobi and Sean Baptist Brady - Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland - will also be electors.

It was the second time since his election in April 2005 that the Pope has elevated cardinals to put his stamp on the Church. The first consistory was in March 2006, when he installed 15.

Church law sets a ceiling of 120 on the number of "cardinal electors." The total number of cardinals, including those over 80, is now 201.

The late Pope John Paul held nine consistories during his 26-year reign and created more than 200 cardinals. All but 2 of the prelates who entered the conclave following his death in April, 2005 had been made cardinals by him.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan, editing by Peter Millership)



POPE VOICES CLOSENESS TO IRAQIS



VATICAN CITY, Nov. 24 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that by elevating the patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans to the rank of cardinal he wished to express his spiritual closeness and affection for Iraqis.

By inducting Emmanuel III Delly into the College of Cardinals, "I intend to express in a concrete way my spiritual closeness and my affection for these people," the pope said at a Vatican ceremony creating 23 new cardinals.

"I think now with affection of communities entrusted to your care and, especially, to those most tried by suffering, challenges and difficulties of various kinds," he said.

"Among them, how can one not turn one's gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian communities in Iraq?" he asked, drawing loud applause from the prelates assembled in Saint Peter's Basilica.

"These brothers and sisters of the faith are experiencing in the flesh the dramatic consequences of a lasting conflict and live in a fragile and delicate political situation," he said.



Emmanuel III, the 80-year-old spiritual leader of Iraqi Christians, said Friday that the honour was for "all Iraqis."

"The title of cardinal that the pope has accorded me is not for my poor self alone but for all Iraqis, both those who still live in our tortured country and those who have emigrated," he told reporters.

"I will continue to serve Iraq and all the ethnic and religious groups of the country who should be united. I will serve my country, Iraq, to the last drop of my blood," he said.

Emmanuel III said Benedict had referred to his nomination as a "sign of reconciliation ... between Christians and all the Muslims, whether Sunni or Shiite."

The pope has repeatedly called for dialogue between Christians and Muslims to combat intolerance and violence.


Pope elevates 23 new cardinals
By NICOLE WINFIELD


VATICAN CITY, Nov. 24 (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 churchmen from around the world to the top ranks of the Catholic Church hierarchy Saturday, telling them they must be willing to shed their blood to spread the Christian faith.

Wearing resplendent golden robes and a 19th century gilded bishop's hat once worn by Pope Pius IX, Benedict presided over his second consistory, bringing to 120 the ranks of cardinals who will eventually choose his successor.

To the applause of the crowd, each new cardinal knelt down before Benedict, who from a gilded papal throne on the altar in St. Peter's Basilica placed a red hat on each man's head.

He told them that the red signifies the dignity of their new office and that they must be ready to work, "even to the point of spilling your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for peace and harmony among the people of God, for freedom and the spread of the Holy Roman Catholic Church."

On Sunday, Benedict was to give each new "prince" of the church his cardinal's ring, his personal gift to each one.

Eighteen of the 23 new cardinals are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pontiff. Benedict also named five elderly cardinals to honor them for their service to the church.

Among them is the 80-year-old Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad, Emmanuel III Delly, whom Benedict singled out in his homily, saying his decision to include the patriarch in the College of Cardinals was a concrete sign "of my spiritual closeness and my affection" for the Christians in Iraq.



"Our brothers and sisters in faith are experiencing in the flesh the dramatic consequences of an ongoing conflict and are living in an extremely fragile and delicate political situation," Benedict said to applause from the crowd.

The service, while solemn, seemed to have a festive air to it as the new cardinals — decked out in their new red cassocks — processed down the aisle of the basilica greeting well-wishers. The crowd interrupted Benedict several times with applause and cheers as he pronounced each new cardinal's name from an altar decorated with red roses.

Benedict's vestments were particularly ornate: He donned a long, golden silk cape, embroidered with scenes from the life of the saints that was held up by two altar servers as he processed down the main aisle.

Delly had unusual vestments as well, since he is a patriarch from an Eastern rite church: Rather than wearing the red cassock with a white lace or linen tunic that the other cardinals donned, Delly wore all crimson. He also got a round, black-trimmed red hat rather than the three-pointed red "biretta."

On Friday, Delly said he had told Benedict that he hoped being named Iraq's first cardinal would help bring peace and reconciliation to the country.

"The entire Iraqi people have been honored," Delly told a news conference. "I'm happy that they're happy, so that peace, reconciliation will reign in this tortured country."

Benedict has been outspoken in recent months in lamenting the plight of Christians in Iraq and in the Middle East in general. Delly sidestepped questions about the state of the Christian community in Iraq, saying that all Iraqis were being targeted.

"It's true, sometimes the Christians suffer more, for so many reasons, but what is happening is happening to all Iraqis equally," he said.

After Saturday's ceremony, there will be 201 members of the College of Cardinals, 120 of whom can vote in a conclave. Europe claims the lion's share, with 104 cardinals, followed by 34 from Latin America, 20 from North America, 21 from Asia, 18 from Africa and four from Oceania.


Pope says new Iraqi cardinal
a sign of 'spiritual closeness'
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Rome
Posted on Nov 24, 2007


Popes rarely speak out loud their reasons for making a particular prelate a cardinal, but Pope Benedict XVI broke that informal taboo today with regard to Patriarch Emmanuel II Delly of the Chaldean church in Iraq.

“How can we not look with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian community in Iraq?” the pope said during his homily at this morning’s consistory ceremony.

“These brothers and sisters of ours in the faith are experiencing in their own flesh the dramatic consequences of a long-lasting conflict, and are living today in an extremely fragile and delicate political situation,” the pope said.

“By calling the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church to enter into the College of Cardinals, I wanted to express in a concrete way my spiritual closeness and my affection for this population. We wish together, dear and venerable brothers, to reaffirm the solidarity of the entire church with the Christians of that beloved country. We invite and invoke the merciful God, for all the peoples involved, that the longed-for reconciliation and peace may come.”

The pope's references to Iraq brought three rounds of applause from those gathered in St. Peter's Basilica.

Twenty years ago, Iraq had an estimated Christian population of 1.4 million, one of the largest in the Muslim world. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, however, Iraqi Christians have been caught in a three-way squeeze created by political instability, economic collapse and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, with the result being what some analysts call a Christian “exodus” out of the country.

In 2005, estimates were that more than 40 percent of all refugees fleeing Iraq were Christian. Today, the conventional figure is that at least one-quarter, and perhaps as much as one-half, of Iraq’s Christians have left the country. Those figures do not take into account Iraqi Christians who are internally displaced.

As one example of the pressures facing Iraqi Christians, a Catholic priest and three subdeacons were gunned down in front of their church in Mosul, Iraq, last June. The priest, Ragheed Aziz Ganni, had studied at Rome’s Gregorian University, and two years earlier he had described the suffering of Chadlean Catholics in Iraq during a presentation at a Eucharistic Congress in Bari, Italy: “The terrorists hope to kill us physically, or at least spiritually, making us deny ourselves out of fear. Because of the violence of the fundamentalists against young Christians, many families have fled.”

(In a moving footnote, a Muslim professor at the Gregorian who had befriended Ganni, named Adnan Mokrani, wrote a letter to his murdered friend, expressing anguish: “In the name of which god did they kill you? In the name of what paganism did they crucify you?... Did they really know what they were doing?” he asked.)


Scenes from St. Peter's:






Cardinal Foley before the rites, ;eft, and Cardinal Di Nardo just after getting the biretta.


Left, Cardinal Foley after getting the biretta; Right, Cardinal Rouco Varela of Madrid greets new Cardinal Karlic of Argentina.

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From Al-Jazeera online:

Iraqi among pope's new cardinals

Emmanuel III, who is 80, said that the
honour was for 'all Iraqis'


Pope Benedict XVI has elevated 23 prelates from around the world to the position of cardinal and delivered a pressing appeal for an end to war in Iraq.

One of the new cardinals is Emmanuel III Delly, the Baghdad-based Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.

During a ceremony in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday, the pope said Christians in Iraq were "feeling with their own flesh the dramatic consequences of an enduring conflict".

The Chaldeans are Iraq's biggest Christian group and the Chaldean rite is one of the oldest in the Catholic Church.

Many Iraqi Chaldeans have emigrated since the war started in 2003 and the Vatican has expressed concern that a country with one of the most ancient Christian traditions could be depleted of its faithful.

Protected under Saddam Hussein, there were 700,00 Christians in Iraq. It is now thought that only half that number remain.

The pope said: "Let us together reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and invoke from the merciful God the coming of longed-for reconciliation and peace for all the peoples involved [in the conflict]."

He said in his sermon that he had chosen the Iraqi patriarch as a cardinal to express his spiritual closeness to suffering Iraqis.

Other new cardinals came from Germany, Poland, Spain, Ireland, France, Brazil and Kenya, Senegal, India, Mexico, Italy, Argentina and the US.

Emmanuel III, who is 80, said that the honour was for "all Iraqis".

He said: "The title of cardinal that the pope has accorded me is not for my poor self alone but for all Iraqis, both those who still live in our tortured country and those who have emigrated.

"I will continue to serve Iraq and all the ethnic and religious groups of the country who should be united. I will serve my country, Iraq, to the last drop of my blood."

He said the pope had referred to his nomination as a "sign of reconciliation... between Christians and all the Muslims, whether Sunni or Shiite".

The pope has repeatedly called for dialogue between Christians and Muslims to combat intolerance and violence.


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OFFICIAL DELEGATIONS TO THE CONSISTORY


French Minister Marie-Aliot chats with Italian Vice-Premier Francesco Rutelli.

Following info from Avvenire:

SPAIN: María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Deputy Prime Minister and the mayor of Valencia, Francisco Camps. Three Spaniards are among the new cardinals (Sistach, Garcia-Gasco and Navarrete).

FRANCE: Michele Aliot-Marie, Interior Minister, for the Archbishop of Paris,Andre Vingt-Trois.

POLAND: Robert Draba, chief of the President's Chancellery. (President Kaczynski is travelling in Georgia, and the new Premier, Donald Tusk, was to appear in Parliament today to get permission to form a new government). However, new Cardinal Rylko could also count on the two cardinals of Cracow, Dsizwis and Macharski (emeritus).

IRAQ: Vice President Abdel Adel Mehdi, a Shia, representing President Talebani; Minister for Human Rights Wajdan Michael, a woman and a Christian;and a representative of the Kurdish autonomous government.


EASTERN PATRIARCHS: Syro-Catholic Patriarch Ignace Pierre VIII and Armenian Catholic Patriarch Nerses Bedros.


WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE FLOWERS FOR OUTDOORS?

Avvenire says the Vatican had ordered from San Remo 8,000 roses (1000 white, 2000 yellow, 4000 red), 6,000 carnations (4,00 red and 2000 of various colors), 300 giant ferns, 300 branches of Mirio claudius, and 10 kilos of rusks.

They also ordered thousands of sprigs of Rosa mistica to decorate the reception salons for the new cardinals.