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Pope's New Cardinals: Still Old & European

But elevation of Houston archbishop reflects Southern shift

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 18, 2007 9:53 AM CDT

(Newser) – Pope Benedict XVI has named a new batch of cardinals, generally preserving the "princes of the church" posts for aging Europeans, reports Time magazine. There is, however, a new cardinal in Baghdad. And in recognition of the southward and Spanish-language shift of Catholicism in the United States, the pope has made the archbishop of Galveston-Houston a cardinal.

Despite talk about the global transformation of the religion, most of the cardinals remain European, specifically Italian, which Vatican watchers say reflects a power consolidation by the pope's top deputy. One of the Italians just elevated to cardinal, the archbishop of Genoa, has been protected by armed guards since his comments earlier this year comparing homosexuality to incest and pedophilia.

Pope Benedict XVI gestures during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's square at the Vatican Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, while reading the list of the new cardinals the pontiff will elevate in a solemn ceremony next Nov. 24. The pope named 23 new cardinals, tapping the Chaldean patriarch of...
Pope Benedict XVI gestures during the weekly general audience in St. Peter's square at the Vatican Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, while reading the list of the new cardinals the pontiff will elevate in a solemn...   (Associated Press)
Pope Benedict XVI  blesses faithful from his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Pope Benedict XVI blesses faithful from his studio's window overlooking St. Peter's square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)   (Associated Press)
Daniel N. DiNardo, front, is greeted by Father Joseph Gietl of Spring, before a news conference about DiNardo's appointment Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, at the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese chancery in Houston. Texas Catholics on Wednesday celebrated the pope's selection of DiNardo as the state's first Roman Catholic cardinal. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle,...
Daniel N. DiNardo, front, is greeted by Father Joseph Gietl of Spring, before a news conference about DiNardo's appointment Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007, at the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese chancery in Houston....   (Associated Press)
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