For several weeks, journalists in Rome had been confidently predicting a February consistory. Still, when he made his long-awaited announcement—on Sunday, January 21—Pope John Paul II managed to surprise Vatican-watchers with the sheer number of new cardinals he named. Then, one week later, he surprised them again by naming five more new cardinals, as well as revealing the identity of two prelates who had already been elevated to the rank of cardinal in pectore.

The Holy Father made his first announcement during a regular Sunday Angelus audience, as he spoke to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square from the balcony of his apartment. His original list included 37 names, of whom 33 would be under 80 years old. These new additions would have—barring deaths among the eligible prelates—raised the number of cardinal-electors to 128. Pope Paul VI had set the maximum number of cardinal-electors at 120; John Paul was using his discretionary authority to exceed that limit.

But the Pope was not finished. On the following Sunday he added five more names to the list—without explaining his reasons for these delayed announcements. Now, except insofar as deaths cut into the membership of the College of Cardinals, the number of cardinal-electors will not drop below 120 until January 2003.

While making his first announcement, the Pope said that he would “soon” reveal the names of two cardinals whom he named in pectore in 1998. Most journalists assumed the announcement would come at the time of the consistory. But on January 28 the Pope gave their names: Marian Jaworski of the Latin-rite Archdiocese of Lviv, Ukraine; and Janis Pujats of Riga, Latvia. Upon being identified, these prelates immediately assumed all the privileges of their rank.

Few surprises
Most of the new cardinals are ranking officials of the Roman Curia or heads of prominent archdioceses. But several of the Pope’s choices fell outside those categories:

• Avery Dulles, SJ, is recognized as the dean of American theologians, and a voice for concord during sometimes contentious theological disputes.
• Stephános Ghattas is the Patriarch of Alexandria and head of the Coptic Catholic Church. He will become one of three patriarchs in the College of Cardinals, joining Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch, and Patriarch Ignace Moussa Daoud (see below).
• Lubomyr Husar is the Archbishop of Lviv, the major archdiocese of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. He was added to the Pope’s list shortly after his election as the leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church.
• Walter Kasper is the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity. A Pontifical Council is usually headed by a cardinal; but it is unprecedented that the second-ranking official would also wear a red hat.
• Karl Lehmann of Mainz, Germany, the president of the German bishops’ conference, has often found himself at odds with the Vatican, particularly on the troubled question of abortion counseling by Church-related agencies. The inclusion of his name, in the Pope’s second announcement, provided the biggest surprise of the consistory, and the cardinal-designate wasted no time in claiming that his elevation was a vindication of his efforts.
• Ignace Moussa I Daoud is the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches. To assume that post, the Syrian prelate resigned as Patriarch of Antioch and head of the Syrian Catholic Church. Pope John Paul has announced that he will retain the title of Patriarch.
• Leo Scheffczyk, a German priest of the Munich archdiocese, is being honored for his contributions to the work of the Church, most recently through his work with the Pontifical Council for the Family.
• Roberto Tucci, SJ, has been the “advance man” for papal trips for several years, negotiating and preparing the often sensitive details of the Pope’s itinerary.
• Varkey Vithayathil of Ernakulam-Angamalay, India, is the ranking prelate of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.

A break with Irish tradition

The appointment of the Archbishop of Dublin, Ireland, as a cardinal has been greeted with shock by liberals.

The appointment ended a tradition stretching back more than 100 years. In the early years after the restoration of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland in the early 19th century, Ireland’s red hats traditionally went to Dublin: to Archbishop Paul Cullen in 1866 and Archbishop Edward McCabe in 1882. But in 1893, Archbishop Michael Logue of Armagh was appointed cardinal. Since that time, seven red hats have gone to the archbishops in Armagh.

The Catholic Church in Ireland is an all-island body which ignores the artificially created border between the Republic of Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland. But traditionally there has been a certain tension between Armagh and Dublin. Armagh is a mainly rural diocese in Northern Ireland. For historical reasons, the Archbishop of Armagh, the See of St. Patrick, holds the title of Primate of All Ireland: a title which confers an authority and primacy disproportionate to the political importance of the see. The Archdiocese of Dublin, on the other hand, is the biggest and most influential diocese on the island. It includes about half the Republic’s Catholics and its geographical location, centered on the capital of the Republic, puts its incumbent at Ireland’s political, economic, and religious heart. The Archbishop of Dublin holds the title Primate of Ireland.

The current incumbent in Armagh is Archbishop Sean Brady. He became coadjutor archbishop of Armagh in February 1995 and succeeded Cardinal Cahal Daly 20 months later. (Cardinal Daly, although retired, is still active at the age of 82.) Since assuming the post, Archbishop Brady has kept a remarkably low profile. His public comments have been innocuous and politically neutral. The most marked controversy of his episcopate arose almost by accident when he banned eulogies at funerals—a decision that sparked weeks of debate in the media on both sides of the border.

Archbishop Desmond Connell of Dublin, on the other hand, has quite a different public profile. Since his controversial appointment in 1988 (he was formerly a university metaphysics professor with no pastoral experience), he has frequently been in the news defending Catholic social and theological teaching. He has condemned moves by the Irish government to liberalize laws on abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. He has spoken and written against the ordination of women. He has criticized the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, for taking communion at a Protestant service. Most recently, he has strenuously defended the Vatican’s controversial document Dominus Iesus.

The only argument against a red hat for Dublin came down to age: Archbishop Connell this year celebrates the golden jubilee of his ordination. In March he will be 75, and must tender his resignation. Archbishop Brady, on the other hand, is still only 61. But the Vatican chose to ignore the age issue and—much to the consternation of Dublin’s liberal media—returned the red hat to Ireland’s center of power and orthodoxy.