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Cardinals Get Younger
With his latest batch of cardinal appointments, Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed some important directions and priorities of his pontificate.
The pope’s picks have once again boosted the European and U.S. presence among voting-age members of the College of Cardinals.
His choice of Cardinal-designate Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was particularly significant because it went outside the group of U.S. dioceses traditionally headed by cardinals, instead looking to the South, where the Catholic Church has grown most rapidly in recent years. Over the last 20 years, the number of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has increased by nearly 80%.
Ten of the 18 voting-age cardinal appointees are from Europe, which means that Europeans will constitute approximately 50% of the potential conclave voters. Of the 30 cardinals Pope Benedict has named to the under-80 group since his election, 16 have been European.
Pope Benedict does not follow geographical quotas when he makes his cardinal selections.
The pope’s choices included only two residential bishops from Latin America – one from Brazil and one from Mexico. Brazil, which has the largest Catholic population in the world, will now have four under-80 cardinals; Mexico, which has the second-largest Catholic population, will also have four.
The global breakdown of voting-age cardinals will be 60 from Europe, 21 from Latin America, 16 from the United States and Canada, 13 from Asia, nine from Africa and two from Oceania.
Seven of the new picks are active officials of the Roman Curia or Vatican-related organizations, including U.S. Cardinal-designate John P. Foley, pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. While there has been much talk about reducing the number of curial cardinals, it appears that Pope Benedict is not going down that road.
Three of the pope’s cardinal appointees are in their 50s, including Cardinal-designate DiNardo. Overall, the residential bishops among the new cardinals have an average age of 64 – which may not sound like the fountain of youth, but is 13 years younger than the average age of current cardinals.
At the same time, Pope Benedict named a record number of five over-80 cardinals, rewarding a Roman Curia veteran, an Argentine pastor and two Roman academics.
Iraqi Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel-Karim Delly, 80, was perhaps the most significant of these appointments. In naming him a cardinal, the pope was showing symbolically his concern for the suffering Catholic population in Iraq, where violence and intimidation have forced tens of thousands of Christians to leave.
Exit a Pro-Life Candidate
While we cannot endorse specific candidates for public office in this space, we are sorry to see Sen. Sam Brownback (Rep. - Kansas) exit from the list of presidential candidates.
Sen. Brownback, a recipient of the Brooklyn Diocese’s Pro Vita Award, brought a clear voice for life to the national debate.
Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley recently said that Brownback, more than any other candidate for president, most closely reflected Catholic social teaching.
“Your words are not from a politician posturing, but a reflection of your faith,” the cardinal said.
Brownback, a convert to Catholicism, has been an ardent defender of the rights of the unborn and has been a constant presence at the March for Life every Jan. 22 in the nation’s capital.
While he is no longer a candidate, he says he will continue to work to expand the role of people of faith in the public square and the acceptance of faith as a legitimate motivation for public acts. Hopefully, others in Washington will be listening.
Joe Torre’s Class
We knew Joe Torre, the former Yankees manager, when he played baseball and didn’t even get paid to do so. Born and raised right here in Brooklyn, he had a brilliant schoolboy career at St. Francis Prep when it was still located in Brooklyn.
In 1958, then-Tablet sportswriter Frank DeRosa predicted in these pages that Torre would go on to be a great professional baseball player. He did that and when he left the field he returned in a managerial role. During his 12-year stint with the Bronx Bombers, he brought them back to the glory to which they were accustomed. And he did it with style, class and pride. Joe Torre never embarrassed himself or the Yankees.
So it was with style and class that he turned down the Yankees’ offer to manage again, seeing it for what it was, an attempt to embarrass and scold the great leader whose team fell short this season.
Joe Torre didn’t deserve the manner in which he left the Yankees. Management should have been upfront with him and told him that the organization didn’t want him back rather than subject the man to a potentially embarrassing deal.
Joe did the right thing by saying goodbye. We wish him well in whatever he decides to do in the future. Whatever it is, we’re sure he’ll continue to carry himself with the same class and style that he showed on the field. The class that he was denied in his final inning with the Yankees.
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