THE CARDINALS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

 THE CARDINALS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Rev Fr Utazi Prince Marie Benignus Zereuwa

utaziprince@yahoo.com

June 1 2022

EPILOGUE

Cardinals are the top clerics of the Roman Catholic Church, also called its Princes. The word is derived from its Latin root cardo (hinge); cardinals are thus considered the hinges on which the Church revolves. They are appointed for life and belong to three orders  the highest being cardinal bishops, then cardinals priests, and finally cardinal deacons. Of the three, cardinal priests are the most numerous. Together, the orders form what is called the Sacred College of Cardinals, which currently has 229 members.

Cardinals receive the symbolic red biretta and ring from the Pope when they are created at consistories, and are addressed as Eminence. The prelates are also known for their distinctive red attire  the colour expressing the willingness of the Cardinal to die for their faith, and the ring signifies their marriage to the church.

The election of the Pope, though, is only one among their many responsibilities. Cardinals primarily work as counsellors to the Pope, and many are leaders of the diocese or archdiocese in their home countries. They also take up important positions in the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Roman Curia. As per Canon law, cardinals can be summoned by the Pope for particular needs, and have direct access to him. They are also responsible for the day-to-day governance of the Church whenever the seat of the Pope falls empty.

Because the Church use the word create in reference to naming cardinals, this has led to the clerical joke that only God and the pope can create something out of nothing. Cardinals are not ordained since the Cardinalate is not a sacrament but simply an office in the church. 

Since 1917 the code has required that a man must be a priest to be eligible for appointment to the College of Cardinals. An appointee who is not a bishop must be consecrated a bishop, but the pope can make exceptions, as John Paul II did for Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles in 2001; and Pope Francis for Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap on November 28 2020 consistory. Fr Raniero has been the Papal Household preacher for 60 years as at 2020 and he was 86 years old as at 2020. The first cardinals were probably senior clerics of some of most important churches of Rome, now known as titular churches; others were bishops from nearby dioceses known as suburbicarian sees.

Since its work is centered on service to the pope in governing the church, some theologians have argued that the College of Cardinals should contain laypeople of both sexes. It is said that Paul VI considered giving a red hat to the Catholic philosopher and layman Jacques Maritain. There have been so-called lay cardinals in the past, but they were men in minor orders. 

The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI Romano Pontifici Eligendo, promulgated on October 1, 1975, established numerical limits for the College of Cardinals. It stated that cardinals who had reached the age of 80 could not enter into conclave, and that the number of electors could not go beyond 120. Pope John Paul II continued this limitation until when he revoked Romano Pontifici Eligendo and introduced a new revised set of rules for papal elections in Universi Dominici Gregis in 1996. These new set of rules however, were changed back to the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Paul VI by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created in consistories by the pope, and one of their foremost duties is the election of a new pope (invariably from among themselves, although not a formal requirement) when the Holy See is vacant, following the death or the resignation of the reigning pontiff. The body of all cardinals is collectively known as the College of Cardinals.

Cardinals may also be created in pectore (reserved in the breast), in which case their identities are not publicly revealed by the pope; they do not enjoy the privileges of a cardinal until their names are published. The creations of any such cardinals who have not been revealed at the death of the Pope who created him cardinal in pectore or resignation automatically ceases.

THE OFFICE OF CARDINAL

The Office of Cardinal ranks next to only the Pope in the hierarchy of the Church. Cardinals are called Princes of the Church because they elect a Pope who is usually but not necessarily from amongst their ranks. They wear red skull caps and other clerical dresses to signify that they are ready to shed their blood in defence of the faith.

The cardinals were, therefore, from a very early period, assistants of the pope in his liturgical functions, in the care of the poor, the administration of papal finances and possessions, and the synodal disposition of important matters. They took on a very much greater importance, however, after the decree of Nicholas II (1059), In nomine Domini, regulating papal elections. In accordance with this document the election of the pope and the government of the Church, during the vacancy of the Apostolic See, fell more and more into their hands; they passed to them exclusively after the Decretal of Alexander III, Licet de vitandâ, at the third Lateran Council (1179). The increasing insignificance of the regionary and palatine clergy, from the middle of the twelfth century, coupled with the disappearance of the judices palatini, tended to enlarge the share of the cardinals in the administration of papal justice and finances, also of the fiefs of the Holy See and of the States of the Church. We may add to this that after the cessation of papal journeys to the different nations of Christendom and of the Roman synods under papal presidency, the cardinals remained almost the only counsellors and legates of the popes. Henceforth their functions were equivalent to those of the permanent synod and the syncelli at Constantinople.

Given the position of the pope and his intimate relations both to the individual cardinals and to such a close corporation as the college itself, at papal functions, in papal elections, in synods, in the consistory, in the conduct of diplomatic negotiations, it is easy to understand how all cardinals, including cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons came to outrank bishops and archbishops, and after the fourteenth century even patriarchs, just as at Constantinople the syncelli eventually outranked bishops and archbishops. This pre-eminence, however, was a matter of slow and uneven development. The cardinal-bishops were the first to outrank other bishops, then archbishops, and finally patriarchs. But as the cardinals formed a college, and the collegiate rights were equally shared by all, the cardinal-priests and cardinal-deacons claimed the same rank as the cardinal-bishops, while the Cardinal-Bishops were quite willing to see their colleagues placed on their own higher plane. It was occasionally maintained in the Middle Ages that the cardinals were no less successors of the Apostles than the bishops, and that their authority was of Divine origin. For argument appeal was made to the seventy elders of Moses and to Deuteronomy 17:8ff, and to other texts. Leo X declared in the Bull Supernæ of 5 May, 1514, that the cardinals in a body should come immediately after the pope and should precede all others in the church (Bullar. Rom., V, 604 ff). The superior rank of the cardinals was clearly indicated when, after the time of Alexander III, bishops and even archbishops became cardinal-priests, and even (though less frequently) cardinal-deacons (Sägmüller, Die Tätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinäle, 193 sqq.). The cardinals were on equality with emperors and kings, whom they addressed as brothers, for example, the cardinal legate Roland at the Diet of Besançon in 1157. It was only natural, therefore, that in the end the name cardinal, which until late in the Middle Ages was borne by the principal ecclesiastics of the more important churches, should be reserved for the Roman cardinals. Pius V, it is said, issued a decree to this effect 17 Feb., 1567. There were never any cardinals by birth (cardinales nati), that is, no other office necessarily implied elevation to the dignity of cardinal.

The place and the occasion of this manifold activity of the cardinals was the consistory, that is, the reunion of the cardinals and the pope. In it were regularly treated questions of faith and important disciplinary matters, such as dogmatic decisions, canonizations, approbations of rules of new orders, affairs of the Inquisition and the universities, indulgences for the Universal Church, modifications of the rules for papal elections, the convocation of general councils, also the nomination and mission of Apostolic legates and vicars. Moreover, in the consistory were treated all matters concerning dioceses and bishops, the so-called causæ majores par excellence, among them the creation, transfer, division, reunion, and suppression of dioceses, the nomination and confirmation of bishops, also their transfer, resignation, cession, suspension, deposition, and degradation. It was in the consistory that were granted to monasteries the numerous privileges by which they were withdrawn from episcopal, and made subject to papal, jurisdiction; there also took place frequently the confirmation of the abbots and abbesses elected in such exempt monasteries. Before the consistory, moreover, were treated the important questions that arose concerning the properties of the Roman Church (bona ecclesiæ romanæ), the papal fiefs, the Crusades, and such grave political matters as the settlement of disputed royal elections, the approbation of newly-elected kings, and the deposition of princes. In the meetings of the consistory, which in the Middle Ages were frequently held weekly, the cardinals also assisted the pope in the disposition of an overwhelming mass of lawsuits. Finally, the cardinals were put in charge of several of the great offices of the Church: in the Chancery a cardinal-chancellor or rather vice-chancellor, in the administration of the papal revenues a cardinal-camerarius, in the conduct of the penitentiaria a cardinal-penitentiary. The cardinals were also grand-inquisitors, likewise the "rectors" in the States of the Church. Others were sent abroad as cardinal legates; others again acted as cardinal protectors of nations and religious orders (Sägmüller, Die Tätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinäle, 46 sqq.).

RANKS OR LEVELS OF CARDINALS

There are three levels of Cardinal: Cardinal Deacon, Cardinal Priest, Cardinal Bishop.

The distinction between the three degrees of Cardinals has little practical significance except in determining the order and rank for ceremonial processions. Also, during the period after a Pope dies and before a new one is elected, it is position one occupies within the College of Cardinals that determines the power one is to exercise certain roles if the Dean of the College of Cardinals or Camerlengo are unable to do so.

CARDINAL DEACON 

The cardinal deacon is the lowest-ranking cardinal. Cardinals elevated to the diaconal order are either officials of the Roman Curia holding various posts in the church administration or priests elevated after their 80th birthday. 

Cardinal Deacons have the right to opt for the order of cardinal priests (optazione) after they have been cardinal deacon for 10 years. They may on such elevation take a vacant title (a church allotted to a cardinal priest as the church in Rome with which he is associated) or their diaconal church may be temporarily elevated to the title of a cardinal priest for that occasion. When elevated to cardinal priests, they take their precedence according to the day they were first made cardinal deacons (thus ranking above cardinal priests who were elevated to the college after them, regardless of order). For example, someone was made Cardinal Deacon on May 8 2010. By May 8 2020, he will be a Cardinal Priest, and the date that to be entered for him will be 2010 and not 2020.

When not celebrating Mass but still serving a liturgical function, such as the semi-annual Urbi et Orbi papal blessing, some Papal Masses and some events at Ecumenical Councils, cardinal deacons can be recognized by the dalmatics they would don with the simple white mitre (so called mitra simplex).

Besides the clergy attached to each Roman Church, there was in the city a "regionary" clergy of almost equal antiquity, so called because of its relations to the ecclesiastical regiones or quarters into which, after the fashion of the municipal regions, Christian Rome was at an early date divided. For the care of the poor the city was divided into seven regions, each of which was administered by a deacon. The "Liber Pontificalis" dates this division into seven regions from the time of Clement I, and ascribes to Popes Evaristus and Fabian the assignment of the regions to as many deacons. It says of Clement I (88-97): "Hic fecit VII regiones, dividit notariis fidelibus ecclesiæ, qui gestas martyrum sollicite et curiose, unusquisque per regionem suam, diligenter perquireret" (ed. Duchesne, I, 123), i.e., he divided the city into seven regions and assigned them to as many faithful notaries of the Church, whose duty it was earnestly and carefully to collect in each region the acts of the martyrs. And of Evaristus (99-107?): "Hic titulos in urbe Româ dividit presbyteris et VII diaconos ordinavit qui custodirent episcopum prædicantem, propter stilum veritatis", i.e., he divided among the priests the "titles" of the city of Rome, and ordained seven deacons to bear witness to the preaching of the bishop. Much more credible is the statement in the life of Fabian (236-250): "Hic regiones dividit diaconibus et fecit VII subdiaconos, qui VII notariis immiterent, ut gestas martyrum in integro fideliter colligerent, et multas fabricas per cymeteria fieri præcipit", i.e., he divided the "regions" among the deacons and created seven subdeacons whom he placed over the notaries, that the latter might collect with fidelity and completeness the acts of the martyrs; he also commanded many buildings to be put up in the cemeteries. In this way there arose in each of the regions an edifice (diaconia) for the reception of the poor, and close by a church. These regionary deacons were wont to subscribe the acts of Roman synods and other documents as diaconi ecclesiæ Romanæ, or deacons of the Roman Church, sometimes, probably, adding their proper region. Thereby also were expressed the fixity of their relations to the church of the Bishop of Rome and their obligation to assist him at liturgical functions. It was natural enough, therefore, that the term cardinales should very soon be applied to these regionary deacons (diaconi cardinales), as well as to the aforementioned twenty-eight priests of the immediate papal entourage in ecclesiastical functions.

In the Middle Ages the ecclesiastical division of Rome into seven regions disappeared, owing to the changes in Roman topography; consequently, the diaconi cardinales ceased gradually to bear the names of their regions. Of the latter there remain only their number, seven, consecrated by antiquity and their dignity. In the course of time other charitable institutions took the place of the original deaconries. At the end of the sixth century Gregory the Great had eighteen deacons. Under Benedict II (684-85) we meet with monasteria diaconiæ. Adrian I (772-95) fixed at eighteen the number of the diaconal churches, nor was there any alteration of this number until the sixteenth century. In consequence, from the end of the eleventh to the end of the twelfth century, the number of cardinal-deacons was fixed permanently at eighteen. The chief source of this enlargement of their number was the addition of the six diaconi palatini and their archdeacon, i.e., the ecclesiastical officers whose duty it was to serve in turn during the week at the papal Mass, i.e., on certain great feasts, bishops of superior rank say Mass on the altar of the Lateran Basilica. When the pope says Mass there must also be present, with their archdeacon, the six palatine deacons, whose duty it is to read the Gospel in the [papal] palace, and in the Lateran Basilica; also the twelve regionary deacons (diacones regionarrii) who are wont to read the Gospel in the "station" churches of Rome. These eighteen deacons have each a church of Rome; they are also, adds Johannes Diaconus, canons of the Lateran Basilica. The head of the cardinal-deacons was the archdeacon, also known as prior diaconorum cardinalium. In his quality of supervisor of ecclesiastical discipline in the city, and curator of the papal finances, he was, after the pope, the most important person in the Roman Church during the early Middle Ages.

Since, according to the foregoing, the name of cardinal was linked with participation and co-operation in the papal Mass, or in ecclesiastical services at the principal papal churches of Rome it need not surprise us that, by reason of analogous participation in these services, other Roman ecclesiastics, from the deacons downwards, came to bear the title of cardinal. Cardinal-subdeacons are often mentioned, and once even cardinal-acolytes. In the Commentarius electionis Gregorii VII the electors are said to be Romanæ ecclesiæ cardinales clerici, acoliti, subdiaconi, diaconi, presbyteri.

CARDINAL PROTO-DEACON

The cardinal proto-deacon is the senior cardinal deacon in order of appointment to the College of Cardinals. He has the privilege of announcing the election of the new Pope and name (once he has been ordained to the episcopate) from the central balcony of the Basilica of Saint Peter in Vatican City. In the past, during papal coronations, the proto-deacon also had the honor of bestowing the pallium on the new pope and crowning him with the papal tiara.

However, in 1978 Pope John Paul I chose not to be crowned and opted for a simpler papal inauguration ceremony and his three successors followed that example. As a result, the privilege of the cardinal proto-deacon of crowning a new pope has effectively ceased although it could be revived if a future pope were to restore a coronation ceremony. However, the proto-deacon still has the privilege of bestowing the pallium on a new pope at his papal inauguration. Acting in the place of the Roman Pontiff, he also confers the pallium upon metropolitan bishops or gives the pallium to their proxies”. One ceases to be proto-deacon upon being raised to the order of cardinal-priest. The current Cardinal protodeacon is Renato Cardinal Raffaele Martino.

CARDINAL PRIESTS 

This is the second level of Cardinals. Bishops with diocesan responsibilities, however, are created cardinal priests. Cardinal priests are the most numerous of the three orders of cardinals in the Catholic Church, ranking above the cardinal deacons and below the cardinal bishops. Those who are named cardinal priests today are generally bishops and archbishops of important dioceses throughout the world, though some hold Curial positions.

In contemporary times, the name cardinal priest is interpreted as meaning a cardinal who is of the order of priests. 

While the Cardinalate has long been expanded beyond the Roman pastoral clergy and Roman Curia, every cardinal priest has a titular church in Rome, though they may be bishops or archbishops elsewhere, just as cardinal bishops are given one of the suburbicarian dioceses around Rome. Pope Paul VI abolished all administrative rights cardinals had with regard to their titular churches, though the cardinal's name and coat of arms are still posted in the church, and they are expected to celebrate mass and preach there if convenient when they are in Rome.

Today there are close to 150 titular churches, out of over 300 churches in Rome. Peter Cardinal Appiah Turkson from Ghana is a Cardinal-Priest of the San Liborio Church. This is because he was a bishop of a diocese before he was made a cardinal.

The cardinal who is the longest-serving member of the order of cardinal priests is titled CARDINAL PROTO-PRIEST. He had certain ceremonial duties in the conclave that have effectively ceased because he would generally have already reached age 80, at which cardinals are barred from the conclave. The cardinal protopriest is Michael Cardinal Michai Kitbunchu.

Until late in the Middle Ages, the title of cardinal was given to prominent priests of important churches, e.g., at Constantinople, Milan, Ravenna, Naples, Sens, Trier, Magdeburg, and Cologne. In keeping with this custom we find the term Cardinalis applied at Rome from the end of the fifth century to priests permanently attached to the twenty-five to twenty-eight Roman tituli, or quasi-parishes (quasi diæceses), belonging to the church of the Bishop of Rome, the pope; therefore to the Cardo ecclesia par excellence, in which tituli the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance were administered, and which were also often called tituli cardinales. In other words, an ecclesiastical division of the city for various parochial purposes is attributed to popes of the second and third centuries. Such a division, scarcely possible in the period of persecution, is vouched for at the end of the fifth century by the signatures of Roman presbyters present at the Council of Rome in 499 under Pope Symmachus. These presbyters were thenceforth known as cardinales.

However, not all the numerous priests attached to these titular churches were known as cardinales, but, in keeping with the then current use of cardinalis as the equivalent of principalis, only the first priest in each such churchlet us say the archipresbyter. According to a constitution of John VIII, published between 873 and 882, these cardinal-priests (presbyteri cardinales) were the supervisors of ecclesiastical discipline at Rome and also ecclesiastical judges. That is, the pope commands them to meet at least twice a month, in their own or other churches, to investigate their own lives and those of the clergy, the relations of superiors and inferiors, and in general to check all violations of the laws; also to settle, as far as is possible in the papal court, all conflicts between laymen and ecclesiastics. The pope, he says, is like Moses in gentleness of government, while the administration of the cardinals recalls the paternal character of the seventy elders who sat as judges under the patriarch's control. The pope also entrusts to them the administration of vacant abbeys and the filling of the vacant abbatial offices, but not without his foreknowledge.

CARDINAL BISHOPS 

Cardinal Bishops only refers to the cardinals who are titular bishops of one of the suburbicarian sees. Currently, there are seven suburbicarian sees: Ostia, Albano, Porto and Santa Rufina, Palestrina, Sabina and Mentana, Frascati and Velletri. Velletri was united with Ostia from 1150 until 1914, when Pope Pius X separated them again, but decreed that whatever cardinal bishop became Dean of the College of Cardinals would keep the suburbicarian see he already held, adding to it that of Ostia, with the result that there continued to be only six cardinal bishops. This means there are always six cardinal bishops in the college.

The current cardinal bishops of the suburbicarian dioceses (six cardinal bishops of the college) are:

1. Angelo Sodano, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Albano, Dean of the College of Cardinals, former Cardinal Secretary of State

2. Roger Etchegaray, Cardinal Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina, Vice-Dean, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

3. Giovanni Battista Re, Cardinal Bishop of Sabina-Poggio Mirteto, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops

4. Francis Arinze, Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

5. Tarcisio Bertone, Cardinal Bishop of Frascati, former Cardinal Secretary of State and former Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

6. José Saraiva Martins, Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

For a period ending in the mid-20th century, long-serving cardinal priests were entitled to fill vacancies that arose among the cardinal bishops, just as cardinal deacons of ten years' standing are still entitled to become cardinal priests. Since then, cardinals have been advanced to cardinal bishop exclusively by papal appointment.

In the course of time and according as the papal headship of the Church manifested itself more and more, the volume of ecclesiastical and temporal business increased greatly at Rome, in consequence of which the popes called in neighbouring bishops to represent them at episcopal functions and to aid them with their counsel. They also followed the custom, widespread in the early medieval period, of dealing with the important questions in synodal meetings. The "Liber Pontificalis" says of Stephen III (768-772): "Erat enim hisdem præfatus beatissimus præsul ecclesiæ traditionis observator. Hic statuit ut omni dominico die a septem episcopis cardinalibus ebdomadariis, qui in ecclesiâ Salvatoris observant, missarum sollemnia super altare beati Petri celebraretur et Gloria in excelsis Deo diceretur" (I, 478), i.e., the pope, as a diligent custodian of tradition ordered that every Sunday solemn Mass should be said on the altar of St. Peter, in the Lateran Basilica, by one of the seven cardinal-bishops in weekly service at which Mass also the "Gloria in Excelsis" should be sung. This statement takes it for granted that at the end of the eighth century the weekly service of the cardinal-bishops was already an ancient custom. That these bishops also received the name of episcopi cardinales is intelligible enough after what has been said. Though the number of cardinal-bishops has always been seven, their particular sees have not shared the same fixity. In the entourage and service of the pope we meet not only bishops of Ostia, Porto, Albano, Præneste, and Silva Candida, but also bishops of Velletri, Gabii, Tivoli, Anagni, Nepi, and Segni. It is only since the beginning of the twelfth century that the cardinalitial dioceses were finally fixed as the seven in the immediate vicinity of Rome, hence suburbicaria: Ostia, Porto, Santa Rufina (Silva Candida), Albano, Sabina, Tusculum (Frascati), Præneste (Palestrina). In the twelfth century the number of the cardinalitial dioceses was diminished by one, when Callistus II united Santa Rufina (Silva Candida) with Porto, so that only six remained. In the Middle Ages, therefore, the cardinals should have numbered fifty-three or fifty-four. As a rule, however, they were fewer; after the thirteenth century their number often sank considerably. Under Alexander IV (1254-61) there were but seven cardinals. During the Western Schism their number increased, inasmuch as each of the contending claimants created his own college of cardinals. The Council of Constance demanded that their number be fixed at twenty-four. The same number was demanded by the Council of Basle in 1436 (Sess. XXIII, c. iv, "De numero et qualitate cardinalium", in Hardouin, "Acta Conc.", Paris, 1714, VIII, 1206 xq.). In 1555 an agreement was reached between Paul IV and the cardinals, whereby their number was fixed at forty, but this agreement was never carried out. On the other hand, Sixtus V, by his yet valid constitutions "Postquam verus", of 3 Dec., 1586 (§ 4), and "Religiosa sanctorum", of 13 April, 1587, fixed the number of cardinals at seventy, six cardinal-bishops, fifty cardinal-priests, and fourteen cardinal-deacons, in imitation of the seventy elders of Moses, and declared null and void all nominations in excess of this number. As a matter of fact, such nominations would not be invalid, and have been made.

CARDINAL DEAN 

The Dean of the College of Cardinals, or Cardinal-dean, is the primus inter pares of the College of Cardinals, elected by the cardinal bishops holding suburbicarian sees from among their own number, an election, however, that must be approved by the Pope. Formerly the position of dean belonged by right to the longest-serving of the cardinal bishops. This means the Dean is always elected from the cardinal bishops.

The Dean of the College of Cardinals has also the responsibility to communicate the death of pope to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See and to the heads of nations. He represents the Holy See during the sede vacante. He is the one who asks the pope-elect if he accepts the election, and what name he will take.

If the new pope is not a bishop, the Dean has the right to ordain him. If the Dean is older than 80, and so not eligible to take part in the conclave, the senior cardinal bishop presides over the conclave.

The current Cardinal Dean is Giovanni Cardinal Battista Re

NUMBER OF CARDINALS

As of 27 May 2022, there are 208 cardinals, 117 of whom are cardinal electors. The most recent consistory for the creation of cardinals was held on 28 November 2020, when Pope Francis created 13 cardinals, including 9 cardinal electors. By 27 August 2022, a consistory is scheduled to be held to create 21 cardinals, of which 16 among them will be cardinal electors. Then, the total number of Cardinals will be 229, of which 133 among them will be Cardinal electors. But what a minute!!! Norberto Cardinal Rivera Carrera will be 80 years old on 6th June 2022 and thus ceases to be Cardinal elector, reducing the number of Cardinal electors to 132 by August 27 2022; if none of the Cardinal electors dies before then. 

The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority, if all 117 cardinal electors were to participate, would be 78. After August 27 2022, if all 133 cardinal electors will participate, the 2/3 majority will 89.

OFFICES OF CARDINALS IN THE 3 RANKS OF CARDINALS

The current Cardinal Dean is Giovanni Cardinal Battista Re and the current deputy Cardinal Dean is Leonardo Sandri. This office of Cardinal Dean is occupied for a 5 year tenure. For the next five years, His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re will fulfill this important role.

The cardinal protopriest is Michael Cardinal Michai Kitbunchu.

The current Cardinal protodeacon is Renato Cardinal Raffaele Martino.

For cardinal bishops, except the Eastern Catholic patriarchs, the dean is first in precedence, followed by the vice-dean and then, in order of appointment as cardinal bishops, by the remainder. For cardinal bishops who are Eastern Catholic patriarchs, for cardinal priests and for cardinal deacons, precedence is determined by the date of the consistory in which they were created cardinals and then by the order in which they appeared in the official announcement or bulletin.

CARDINAL GIOVANNI BATTISTA RE

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re is Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops and President emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He was born on 30 January 1934 in Borno (Brescia), Italy and ordained a priest in 1957. In 1987 he was appointed Secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, two years later he was named Substitute of the Secretariat of State, a post he held for 11 years. On 16 September 2000 the Holy Father appointed him Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. John Paul II named him a cardinal in 2001. He has exercised the role of Vice-Dean since June 2017.

ROLE OF THE CARDINAL DEAN

The Cardinal Dean presides over the College of Cardinals. In the event of the death or resignation of a pope, he plays a key role in governing the Vatican while the See remains vacant. He calls his fellow cardinals to Rome and presides over the daily General Congregations held prior to a conclave. If he is under the age of 80, he also presides over the conclave itself.

WHY CARDINALS HAVE RANKS, AND HOW POPE FRANCIS CHANGED THEM

Pope Francis made an unexpected change on Tuesday June 26 2018 in the structure of the College of Cardinals, adding some curial officials to the rank of cardinal bishops, the highest rank within the college. There are customarily six cardinal bishops from the Latin Church, who are given a particular ceremonial title as the titular bishops of suburbicarian sees of ancient Rome. The dean of the College of Cardinals is also assigned as titular bishop of the Roman See of Ostia.

Eastern Catholic patriarchs who are cardinals are also cardinal bishops. Though, in modern times, cardinal bishops do not actually govern the suburban dioceses in the vicinity of Rome, the custom of corresponding to the rank of cardinal bishop to those dioceses is ancient.

The new appointments by the Pope break with that custom, which is established in canon law, as he has appointed cardinal bishops who will not be ceremonially connected to those suburbicarian sees. In fact, those sees already have titular bishops, each of whom is a cardinal bishop over the age of 80, the age at which cardinals are no longer eligible to vote in the conclave that elects a pope.

DUTIES OF CARDINALS

It is the duty of the cardinals to assist the pope at the chief liturgical services known as capellæ papales, to distinguish them from the capellæ cardinaliciæ, at which the pope is not present; also to counsel him and aid in the government of the Church (c. 17 in VIto de electione, I, 6; Council of Trent, Sess. XXIV, de ref., c. 1, and Sess. XXV, de ref., c. 1). Hence the cardinals are obliged to reside at Rome and cannot leave the Papal States without permission of the pope. The violation of this law entails grave penalties, even the loss of the cardinalitial dignity (C. 2, X, de clerico non residente, III, 4; Leo X, "Supernæ", 5 May, 1514, § 28, in "Bullar. Rom.", V, 604 sqq.; Innocent X, "Cum juxta", 19 Feb., 1646, in "Bullar. Rom.", XV, 441 sqq.). Similarly, they would lose all the benefices possessed by them (Council of Trent, Sess. XXIV, de ref., c. 17). It is otherwise with foreign bishops created cardinals; they retain their dioceses and are not obliged to reside at Rome. The suburbicarian bishops, however, by ancient custom reside at Rome. The share of the cardinals in the government of the Church is exercised partly in the consistories, partly in the curial offices (Cancellaria, Dataria, Penitentiaria), in the Roman Congregations, and in various ecclesiastical commissions.

THE CONSISTORY

A papal consistory is the assembly of the cardinals about the pope and recalls the consistorium principis of the Roman Empire (G. Paleotti, De sacri consistorii consultationibus, Rome, 1592; Sägmüller, Die Tätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinäle, 46 sqq., 97 sqq.). 

Consistories are public (publica) or extraordinary, and secret (secreta) or ordinary. Semi-public consistories are a combination of a public and a secret consistory. The public consistories are attended not only by the cardinals, but by the bishops, prelates, princes, and ambassadors to the papal court present in Rome. They are called for the purpose of giving the red hat to new cardinals, the solemn conclusion of canonizations, and public audiences to sovereigns and their ambassadors. Much more important are the secret consistories. As already described, it was in them that during the Middle Ages were heard and decided the numberless lawsuits and judicial matters that came before the Apostolic See. Innocent III was wont to hold such a consistory three times a week. With the transfer of their judicial attributes to the great curial offices, especially the Rota and the Roman Congregations, consistories became less frequent. Under Innocent XI (d. 1689) they were held once a month (J. H. Bangen, Die römische Kurie, ihre gegenwärtige Zusammensetzung und ihr Geschäftsgang, Münster, 1854, 75). 

Secret consistories are now called more rarely, at intervals of several months, and deal with the few subjects or questions actually pending. The following matters are dealt with in them, and call for the counsel of the cardinals: the creation, i.e. nomination proper, of new cardinals; the publication of names reserved in petto; the giving of the cardinalitial insignia with exception of the red hat; the opening and closing of the mouth; the institution of patriarchs, metropolitans, and bishops, and the nomination of such titular bishops as do not belong to the missionary territories; the transfer of bishops; the granting of the pallium to archbishops; the creation, division, and union of dioceses; the institution of abbots whose abbeys are in the gift of the Holy See; the nomination of the camerlengo and the vice-chancellor of the Roman Church; the choice and mission of cardinals as legati a latere; the conclusion of concordats, consultation on differences and conflicts between Church and State. Generally, however, the consistory is called only to inform the cardinals by a so-called allocution of the status of important ecclesiastico-political matters, or to make known the opinion of the pope. These allocutions are meant for the entire Church and are therefore published in ecclesiastical organs.

After the death of the pope (sede vacante) the duties of the College of Cardinals differ from those exercised by them during his lifetime (sede plenâ). In the earliest times the government of the Roman Church was taken over by the presbyterium or presbyteral clergy, as we know from a letter of that body addressed to St. Cyprian of Carthage after the death of Pope Fabian in 250. From the sixth century on it was the archipresbyter (archpriest), the archidiaconus (archdeacon), and the primicerius notariorum (chief notary) who represented the Apostolic See, locum servantes Apostolicæ Sedis (Liber Diurnus, ed. Th. Sickel, Vienna, 1889, Formula LIX). After the full development of the authority of the College of Cardinals, as above described, the College of Cardinals took charge and exercised its power in very many ways; some canonists went so far as to maintain that during the vacancy of the Apostolic See the College of Cardinals possessed the fullness of the papal prerogative. Their authority was exercised chiefly in two ways, in the administration of the States of the Church and in the election of the new pope. (It is to be noted that Art. 6 of the Italian Law of Guarantees, 13 May, 1871, provides for complete liberty of the cardinals in papal elections.) 

The Bull "Ubi Periculum" of Gregory X, concerning papal elections, issued at the Council of Lyons (1274), confined the cardinals to the exercise of the above-mentioned power. Among other things it says: "Iidem quoque cardinales accelerandæ provisioni sic vacent attentius, quod se nequâquam de alio negotio intromittant, nisi forsan necessitas adeo urgens incideret, quod eos oporteret de terrâ ipsius ecclesiæ defendendâ vel eius parte aliqua providere, vel nisi aliquod tam grande et tam evidens periculum immuneret quod omnibus et singulis cardinalibus præsentibus videretur illi celeriter occurrendum" (C. 3, § 1, in VIto de electione, I, 6). In other words, the pope commands the cardinals to make all due haste with the election and to concern themselves with nothing else, except in case of necessity, e.g. the defence of the States of the Church or any part of them, or some danger so great and evident that each and every one of the cardinals present thinks it necessary to deal with it immediately.

The law prevailing at present is based on the Constitution In eligendis of Pius IV (9 October, 1562) §§ 6-8 (Bullarium Rom., VII, 233ff). This constitution provides that according to ancient custom (evidently closely related to the above-described interimistic administration by the archpriest, the archdeacon, and the chief of the notaries) the administration of the States of the Church shall be confided to the College of Cardinals after the following manner: the cardinal camerlengo (della Santa Romana Chiesa) and three other cardinals (a cardinal-bishop, cardinal-priest, and cardinal-deacon, the so-called capita ordinum) shall manage all current business. Every three days, however, during the conclave, the capita ordinum are renewed according to seniority. These cardinals do not possess papal jurisdiction; they cannot therefore make laws nor modify the system of papal elections, create cardinals or bishops, nor issue commissions to cardinal legates. They could, however, in case of a grave danger menacing the Church, provide by an absolute majority and secret vote for the necessary ways and means to meet the situation, issue urgent temporary ordinances for particular dioceses, and order the public recitation of prayers. In case of the death of the cardinal camerlengo, the cardinal grand penitentiary, and individual penitentiaries, this cardinalitial commission could fill their places for the period of the vacancy (C. 2, § 1 in Clem.de Electione, I, 6; Clement XII, Apostolatus Officium, 4 Oct., 1732, §§ 6, 15, 18, in Bullar. Roman.", XXIII, 445 sqq.). No canonical provisions exist regulating the authority of the College of Cardinals sede Romanâ impeditâ, i.e. in case the pope became insane, or personally a heretic; in such cases it would be necessary to consult the dictates of right reason and the teachings of history.

RIGHTS OF CARDINALS

They enjoy, in a very special manner, the privilegium fori, or right to ecclesiastical court and judges; the pope is their only judge, and alone can depose them (C. 2, X, de clerico non residente, III, 4). The provision that for the condemnation of an ecclesiastic seventy-two, forty-four, or twenty-seven witnesses were needed, according as he was bishop, priest, or deacon, is no longer recognized (C. un. in VIto de schismaticis, V, 3; Paul IV, Cum sepius, 9 Jan., 1556 in Bullar. Rom., VI, 507 sq.). Modern states no longer recognize the privilegium fori even for cardinals; in recent times they have often appeared before the civil courts at Rome (S. Brandi, I Cardinali di S. R. Chiesa nel diritto pubblico italiano, Rome, 1905). Inimical persecution of a cardinal, personal injury to, or imprisonment of, him, are counted high treason (crimen læsæ majestatis); not only the principals, but also those intellectually responsible for the wrong (originators, participants, auxiliaries), and their male descendants incur the canonical penalties of infamy, confiscation, loss of testamentary rights and civil offices, and excommunication. (C. 5, in VIto de pænis, V. 9; "Apostolicæ Sedis moderationi", 12 Oct., 1869, I, 5). Apart from excommunication these penalties are no longer practically applicable. In accordance with the historical development of the office, the cardinals obtained place and vote in general councils. They alone can be sent abroad as legati a latere. They enjoy all the privileges of bishops. Any censure, canonical, or otherwise threatened, or any odious provision is applicable to cardinals only when it is expressly so provided (C. 4, in VIto de sententiâ excommunicationis, V, 11). They may choose a confessor in any diocese; he must, however, have the approbation of his own bishop (C. 16, X de pænitentiâ V, 38). Like the bishops, they have the right to a domestic chapel, and may everywhere use portable altars (C. 12 in VIto de privilegiis, V, 7). In their titular churches the cardinals exercise a certain quasi-episcopal jurisdiction, i.e. they may there use the episcopal ornaments (pontificalia), give the episcopal blessing, and promulgate indulgences of 200 days (Congreg. Indulg., 28 Aug., 1903). They may confer tonsure and minor orders on the members of their ecclesiastical family, also on persons attached to their titular churches (Benedict XIV, "Ad audientiam", 15 Feb., 1753, § 16, in "Bullar. Bened.", XIV, IV, Const. 11). When actually present in Rome, they may grant benefices in their titular churches (C. 24, X de electione, I, 6; C. 11, X de Metrop. et Ord., I, 33). They may also hold visitations in their own churches, and exercise therein corrective and disciplinary authority; they may not, however, exercise judicial authority (C. 11, X de Metrop. et Ord., I, 33; Innocent XII, "Romanus Pontifex", 17 Sept., 1692, § 9, in "Bullar. Rom.", XX, 464; F. Albitius, "De iurisdictione quam habent cardinales in ecclesiis suorum titulorum", Rome, 1668). If a cardinal is promoted to a bishopric, the usual informational process is omitted; he is not obliged to take the usual oath, and is relieved of the ordinary curial expense known as taxæ (Sägmüller, Die Tätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinäle, 153 sqq.). Every cardinal resident in Rome has a right to a revenue of 4,000 scudi (about $4,000). This is known as his piatto cardinalicio, or ordinary means of support. If the ordinary revenues assigned him do not produce as much, the papal treasury makes up the deficit. For their support churches are also assigned to them, e.g. as commendatory abbots. 

The honorary rights of the cardinals are also numerous. They come immediately after the pope, and precede all other ecclesiastical dignitaries. As Roman princes they follow immediately the reigning sovereign, and rank with the prince of reigning houses ("Cæremoniale cardinalium", 14 May, 1706, § 6; Decree of 16 April, 1858; Bangen, "Die römische Curie", 462). Hence, only cardinals of reigning houses retain their inherited titles of nobility and their family arms, but without the crown and with the cardinal's hat and the fifteen tassels (Innocent X, "Militantis ecclesiæ", 19 Dec., 1644, in "Bullar. Rom.", XV, 339 sq.). They alone have the right to the name of cardinal and are addressed as Eminentia, Eminentissimi (Your Eminence or Your Eminences), a title formerly borne by the German ecclesiastical prince-electors and, to the present day, by the Grand Master of the Knights of St. John. Urban VIII instructed them (10 June, 1630) to cease correspondence with any sovereign who refused them this title. It may be added that the legislation of several states takes cognizance of the exalted rank of the cardinals.

THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS

The cardinals, as already said, are a corporation, a college after the manner of the cathedral chapters. When the latter ceased to lead any longer the vita canonica or common life, they became corporations recognized by the canon law, with free administration of their property, chapter-meetings, autonomy, disciplinary authority, and the right to have and use a seal. That the members of the chapter (capitulars, canons) were the only counsellors and auxiliaries of the bishop helped to round out the position of the former, and to unite them as against the other clergy of the cathedral, all the more so as this right of the capitulars to co-government of the diocese (partly by counsel, concilium, and partly by consent, consensus) was constitutional and recognized by the canon law. The cathedral chapters reached their fullest development as corporations early in the thirteenth century, when they obtained the exclusive rights of episcopal elections. In a similar way the cardinal-bishops, cardinal-priests, and cardinal-deacons came to form a corporation, by the fact that since Alexander III (1159-1181) they alone had the right to elect the pope, they alone were his immediate assistants at Mass, and were his only counsellors in all important matters. Since 1150 the corporation of the cardinals becomes more and more known as a collegium, though such synonymous terms as universitas, conventus, cætus, capitulum are occasionally used. The dean or head of the College of Cardinals is the Bishop of Ostia; the sub-dean is the Bishop of Porto. The dean is the successor of the former archpriest, the first of the cardinal-priests, known since the twelfth century as prior cardinalium presbyterarum; he is also to some extent the successor of the archdeacon, known since the thirteenth century as prior diaconarum cardinalium. The archpriest was the immediate assistant of the pope at ecclesiastical functions. The archdeacon, as supervisor of the discipline of the Roman clergy and administrator of the possessions of the Roman Church, was, after the pope, the most important person in the papal court. During a vacancy, as above stated, both archpriest and archdeacon, together with the chief notary (primicerius notariorum), governed the Apostolic See. When later on the cardinals became a corporation that included bishops among its members, one of these bishops must naturally assume the headship; it could be no other than the Bishop of Ostia, whose immemorial right it was to bear the pallium at the consecration of the newly-elected pope, in case the latter were not yet a bishop, and to whom fell later the privilege of anointing the Roman Emperor, and of taking in general councils the first place after the pope. As president of the college it is the duty of the dean to convoke the same, to conduct its deliberations, and to represent it abroad.

As a legal corporation the cardinals have their own revenues, which are administered by a camerlengo (camerarius) chosen from their own body (not to be confounded with the cardinal camerlengo, administrator of the papal estate), and to some extent the successor of the former archdeacon or prior diaconorum cardinalium. In the Middle Ages the revenues of the College of cardinals were considerable. They were jointly entitled, among other dues, to a share of the moneys paid into the papal treasury on such occasions as the conferring of the pallium, confirmation of bishops, also by nations and fiefs that acknowledged the sovereignty or protection of the Holy See. Therefore, since the thirteenth century, the cardinals have had their own treasury (F. Schneider, "Zur älteren päpstlichen Finanzgeschichte" in "Quellen und Forschungen aus italien. Archiv und Bibl.", IX, 1 sqq.). Nicholas IV allotted to the College of Cardinals (18 July, 1289) one half the revenues of the Apostolic See, i.e. of the pallium taxes, the dues for confirmation of bishops (servilit communio), the "census" or tribute from the countries subject to the pope, the Peter's-pence, the visitation dues (paid in on the occasion of their visits to Rome, visitatio liminum apostolorum, by all archbishops, by bishops immediately subject to the Holy See or confirmed and consecrated by the pope, and by abbots freed from episcopal jurisdiction and immediately subject to the Holy See), besides other sources of revenues (J. P. Kirsch, "Die Finanzverwaltung des Kardinalkollegiums im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert", Münster, 1895); Baumgarten, "Untersuchungen und Urkunden über die Camera collegii cardinalium für die Zeit von 1295-1437", Leipzig, 1889; A. Gottlob, "Die Servitientaxe im 13. Jahrhundert", Stuttgart, 1905; E. Göller, "Der Liber taxarum der päpstlichen Kammer", Rome, 1905). The common revenue of the College of Cardinals is now inconsiderable; hence the rotulus cardinalicius, or dividend paid yearly to the cardinals resident in Rome, is comparatively small.

Precedence or rank among the cardinals is regulated according to the three orders above described, and in each order according to seniority. In the order of bishops, however, seniority is not according to date of reception in the cardinalitial body, but according to the date of episcopal consecration (Clement XII, "Pastorale officium", § 5, 10 Jan., 1731, in "Bullar. Roman.", XXIII, 226). According to an ancient custom dating from the thirteenth century, cardinals resident in Rome enjoy what is known as jus optionis or the right of option (Sägmüller, "Die Tätigkeit und Stellung der Kardinäle", 179 sqq.; Baumgarten, "Die Translation der Kardinale von Innocenz III bis Martin V", in "Hist. Jahrbuch", XXII, 85 sqq.). This means that when a cardinalitial office is vacant, the cardinal next in rank of seniority can choose (optare) the vacant office. Thus the oldest of the cardinal-bishops can choose the office of Dean of the College; he becomes at the same time Bishop of Ostia, since according to ancient custom the Dean of the Sacred College is always the Bishop of Ostia. However, in the interest of their dioceses, and apart from the bishoprics of Ostia and Porto, the cardinal-bishops are allowed to make such option but once. The jus optionis is also customary for the other two orders, both within each order, and from one to the other, given the necessary qualifications for such elevation. A cardinal-deacon, already ten years in the Sacred College, holds the jus optionis ahead of a cardinal-priest of later creation, provided, however, that there remain in the college ten cardinal-deacons (Paul IV, "Cum venerabiles", 22 Aug., 1555, in "Bullar. Rom.", VI, 502 sqq.; Sixtus V, "Postquam verus", § 7, 8, 3 Dec., 1587, ibid., VIII, 810 sqq.; Benedict XIII, "Romani Pontifices", § 5, 7, 7 Sept., 1724, ibid., XXII, 94 sq.; Clement XII, "Pastorale Officium", § 8, 10 Jan., 1731, ibid., XII, 226; L. Brancatius, "Dissertatio de optione sex episcopatuum", Rome, 1692).

A LAY MAN BECOMING CARDINAL AND THE CANON LAW

In the historical practice of the Catholic Church, a lay cardinal was a man whom the pope appointed to the College of Cardinals while still a layman. This appointment carried with it the obligation to be ordained to a clerical order (Cartwright, William Cornwallis 123), meaning that lay cardinal was not a permanent state, but a term in reference to a man who was appointed cardinal prior to taking on the clerical state corresponding to that appointment (ibid 121122). Laymen were named Cardinals only for twelve months, being bound within that period to take Deacon's orders. In all these cases, however, it is clear that some orders had been taken; and therefore, in the strict sense of the term, these Cardinals were no longer laymen.

Teodolfo Mertel, the last man to have been created cardinal without first having been ordained a deacon. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1858, a few months after becoming a cardinal.

The current law of the Catholic Church is that a man must be first ordained at least a priest in order to be considered for appointment as a cardinal (Code of Canon Law 1983. Canon 351 §1).

List of laymen who were created cardinals are as follows (this list does not claim to be complete):  Ferdinando I de' Medici 1562 Minor orders; Maurice of Savoy 1607 Minor orders;; Francisco Gómez Rojas de Sandoval 1618, Priest; Ferdinand of Austria 1620 Minor orders; Marino Carafa di Belvedere [it] 1801 Resigned before being ordained; Teodolfo Mertel 1858 Deacon and so on.

In 1917, Pope Pius X promulgated the first edition of the Code of Canon Law, which included a provision that a man must be first ordained a priest prior to being considered for appointment as a cardinal (Code of Canon Law 1917. Canon 232 §1). According to The New York Times, Pope Paul VI considered making the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain a cardinal in 1965. Jacques Maritain Dies at 90 (The New York Times. April 29, 1973. Retrieved April 27, 2022)

THE CARDINALS FROM NIGERIA

Nigeria has had 5 Cardinals so far and they are:

DOMINIC CARDINAL IGNATIUS EKANDEM (EMERITUS ARCHBISHOP OF ABUJA)

He was created Cardinal in 1976 at the age of 59 years. As the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, he was created a Cardinal-Priest and assigned the titular Church of San Marcello. He has returned to the Creator in 1995 at the age of 78 years.

FRANCIS CARDINAL ARINZE

He was the Archbishop of Onitsha before he was called to Vatican to work. He started working in the Vatican before he was created Cardinal in 1985 at the age of 52 years. Therefore he started as a Cardinal-Deacon and assigned the titular Church of San Giovanni della Pigna. He was promoted to Cardinal-Bishop in 2005.

Canon 350 §5 of 1983 code provides that cardinals from the presbyteral order can transfer to another title, and cardinals from the diaconal order to presbyteral order if they have been in the diaconal order for ten full years. Thus, Francis Cardinal Arinze spent 11 years as Cardinal-Deacon before being elevated to Cardinal Priest in 1996, and was assigned the titular Church of San Giovanni della Pigna. In 2005, Francis Cardinal Arinze was further elevated to Cardinal-Bishop and assigned the see of Velletri-Segni one of the 6 suburbicarian  dioceses in Rome. It is noteworthy that Cardinal Arinze succeeded the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who vacated the see to occupy the Chair of Saint Peter as Pope Benedict XVI. Francis Cardinal Arinze who still holds the title is the first and only African to be elevated to Cardinal Bishop status.

ANTHONY CARDINAL OLUBUNMI OKOGIE (EMERITUS ARCHBISHOP OF LAGOS)

He was created Cardinal in 2003 at the age of 67 years. Because he was an Archbishop of a Metropolitan See he was created a Cardinal-Priest and assigned the titular Church of Beata Vergine Maria del Monte Carmelo a Mostacciano.

JOHN CARDINAL OLORUNFEMI ONAIYEKAN (EMERITUS ARCHBISHOP OF ABUJA)

He was elevated to Cardinal in 2012 at the age of 68 years. As he was the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, he was created a Cardinal-Priest and assigned the titular Church of San Saturnino.

PETER CARDINAL EBELE OKPALAEKE (CURRENT BISHOP OF EKWULOBIA DIOCESE)

The Cardinal designate, his Eminence, Peter Cardinal Ebere Okpalaeke, is the Bishop of Ekwulobia, Nigeria, even as a Cardinal.

He was born on 1 Mar 1963 at Amesi; ordained Priest of Awka, Nigeria on 22 Aug 1992; and appointed bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria on 7 December 2012. On 21st May 2013, he was consecrated the Bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria at Seat of Wisdom, Seminary Chapel, Ulakwo, Archdiocese of Owerri.

On 19 February 2018 he tendered his resignation letter from being the Catholic Bishop of Ahiara, Nigeria. On 5 March 2020, he was appointed as the Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia, Nigeria and was installed as the Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia on 29 April 2020. On 27 Aug 2022, he was elevated to Cardinal and appointed a Cardinal-Priest.

Peter Cardinal Ebere Okpalaeke will continue to be the Bishop of Ekwulobia diocese until when he retires at the age of 75 years (+1, +2 years) or when he will be called to reside in Vatican.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Cartwright, William Cornwallis (1868). On Papal Conclaves. Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas.

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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/resource/55087/the-college-of-cardinals. May 24 2022

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