Pope Names 23 New Cardinals
Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 new cardinals, including the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad as an expression of solidarity with Iraqi Christians and sympathy with their plight.
Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, 80, was one of the new cardinals who received their red hats during a solemn yet festive ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica Saturday. He received special mention by Benedict in his homily.
"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" to Iraq's Christians, Benedict said to applause.
"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," he said, adding that he was praying for peace and reconciliation in the country.
Benedict has been outspoken in recent months in lamenting the plight of Christians in Iraq and the Middle East in general.
Delly said later he was "very moved" by the pope's words.
"He spoke the truth," he told reporters during a public greeting in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.
Resplendent in golden robes and a 19th century gilded miter, or bishop's hat, once worn by Pope Pius IX, the pontiff presided over his second consistory, increasing to 120 the number of cardinals who will eventually choose his successor.
Benedict, on a gilded papal throne on the basilica's altar, placed a red hat on the head of each cardinal as he knelt in turn.
The pope told them that red signifies the dignity of their new office and that they must be ready to act "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.
Eighteen of the 23 new cardinals are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pontiff.
Saturday's service, while solemn, seemed to have a festive air as the new cardinals - wearing 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 crimson roses.
Outside in St. Peter's Square, Senegalese pilgrims danced, overjoyed that one of their own, Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, had been honored; Iraqis ululated and waved Iraqi flags to honor Delly.
Benedict's vestments for the ceremony were particularly ornate: He wore a long, golden silk mantle embroidered with scenes from the life of the saints; it was held up by two altar servers as he processed up and 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 white lace or linen surplice 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" that each of the other new cardinals received.
Delly was mentioned by name in an introductory address to the pontiff by the highest-ranking new cardinal, Leonardo Sandri, who said he was carrying out his service "among tears and blood and the painful exodus of so many Christians from the land left by Abraham, our common father in faith and hope."
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."
With Saturday's ceremony, there are now 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.