Vatican City, Oct 24, 2012 / 08:09 am
At today's general audience, Pope Benedict XVI announced he will appoint six new cardinals, including an American, at a consistory that will be held Nov. 24.
"I invite everyone to pray for the newly elected, asking the maternal intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that they will always love with courage and dedication to Christ and his Church," the Holy Father said in a St. Peter's Square, which was teeming with pilgrims and visitors, many who came to Rome for Sunday's canonization of seven new saints.
The cardinals-elect are: Archbishop James M. Harvey, Prefect of the Papal Household; Bechara Boutros Raï, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch in Lebanon; Major Archbishop Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal of India, head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogotá, Colombia; and Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila in the Philippines.
"The cardinals have the task of helping the Successor of Peter in carrying out his ministry of confirming the brethren in the faith, and that is the principle and foundation of unity and communion of the Church," the Pope noted.