VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday brought 22 Catholic churchmen into the elite club of cardinals who will elect his successor, cementing the Italian majority in a future conclave but also giving New York’s garrulous archbishop a position of prominence.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan emerged as something of the star of the consistory, delivering a highly praised speech on spreading the faith while being mentioned in some Italian media as an improbable “papabile,” or having the qualities of a future pope.
Traditionally, Americans are ruled out as papal contenders, with the argument that the world doesn’t need a superpower pope. But Dolan’s joyful demeanor seemed to have struck a chord in a Vatican that has been anything but joyful over a rash of news reports about political infighting and financial mismanagement.
“He certainly is going to be given many responsibilities as a cardinal,” said the other American who got a red hat Saturday, Cardinal Edwin O’Brien, the outgoing archbishop of Baltimore. Asked whether he thought Dolan had the stuff to be pope, O’Brien deadpanned, “His mother thinks so.”
Dolan artfully dodged the question when asked about the speculation Saturday by a gaggle of reporters who traveled from the U.S. for the ceremony. He said, “Io non parlo inglese.” (“I don’t speak English.”)
In all, 22 churchmen got their red hats Saturday, including the archbishops of Prague, Toronto, Florence, Utrecht and Hong Kong as well as the heads of several Vatican offices.
Seven of the 22 were Italian, adding to the eight voting-age Italian cardinals named at the last consistory in November 2010. As of Saturday, Italy will have 30 cardinals out of the 125 younger than 80 and thus eligible to vote in a future conclave.
That boosts Italy’s chances of taking back the papacy for one of its own after decades under a Polish and a German pope — or at least playing the kingmaker role if an Italian candidate doesn’t emerge.
Only the U.S. comes close, with 12 cardinals younger than 80.
In remarks at the start of the service, Benedict recalled that the red color of the three-pointed hat, or biretta, and the scarlet cassock that cardinals wear, symbolizes the blood that cardinals must be willing to shed to remain faithful to the church.
“The new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters even unto shedding their blood, if necessary,” Benedict said.
Benedict, 85, was wheeled into St. Peter’s Basilica aboard the moving platform he has been using for several months to spare him the long walk down the center aisle.
