Vatican City, Jan 10, 2012 / 13:27 pm
When Pope Benedict XVI creates 22 new cardinals next month, he will use a revised and simplified version of the ceremony to avoid any impression that becoming a cardinal is a sacrament.
“The creation of new cardinals had to be inserted into a context of prayer, while at the same time avoiding anything that could give rise to the idea of a ‘cardinalatial Sacrament,’" the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff said Jan. 10.
“Historically speaking, in fact, consistories have never been considered as a liturgical rite but as a meeting of the Pope with cardinals as part of the governance of the Church.”
The chief modification to the ceremony that will take place in Rome on Feb. 18 is that three phases will now be combined into one: the imposition of the biretta, the consignment of the ring and the assignation of each cardinal’s new title.