17 December 2010

Predicting the Next Consistories to Create Cardinals

So the Consistory to create new cardinals in 2010 is now history. Its time to look ahead again and see if the next one (or three) can be predicted.

Lets take a quick look at the history of Pope Benedict XVI's cardinal creating consistories.
In recent history, these consistories typically fall near (often the day before) a major feast. For Benedict, it has been the Annunciation of the Lord (2006) and Christ the King (2007, 2010). Pope John Paul II used Sts Peter & Paul (1979, 1988, 1991), Presentation of the Lord (1983), Pentecost (1985), Christ the King (1994), and the 25th Anniversary of his election to the papacy (2003).

So now for the serious guess-work. The numbers below assume no voting age cardinals die and that at each consistory the number of voting cardinals becomes 120.

Scenario A:
  1. Corpus Christi, 2012 (10 Jun): 15 open voting slots
  2. Christ the King, 2013 (24 Nov): 16 open voting slots
  3. Christ the King, 2015 (22 Nov): 19 open voting slots
Scenario B:
  1. Corpus Christi, 2012 (10 Jun): 15 open voting slots
  2. Pentecost, 2014 (19 May): 21 open voting slots
  3. Pentecost, 2016 (15 May): 20 open voting slots
Scenario C:
  1. Christ the King, 2012 (25 Nov): 21 open voting slots
  2. Pentecost, 2014 (19 May): 15 open voting slots
  3. Pentecost, 2016 (15 May): 19 open voting slots
Scenario D:
  1. Christ the King, 2012 (25 Nov): 21 open voting slots
  2. Christ the King, 2014 (23 Nov): 21 open voting slots
  3. Christ the King, 2016 (20 Nov): 21 open voting slots
I think that Scenario A is the most likely. Followed by C, B, and D. Of course, I could be wrong about all of them.

Pre-Pope John Paul II Bishops

With the year almost complete, its time to revisit the listing the pre-Pope John Paul II bishops. So here is a fresh list - with 6 fewer entries than the last.

So on to the question: How many active bishops were appointed to their current post before Pope John Paul II became Pope?

The answer is Twenty Five ordinaries and Three auxiliary bishops.

The ordinaries are: (Date of Appointment, Date of Birth, Name, Title)
and the Auxiliaries:
  • 20 Nov 1973, 10 Jan 1935, Bishop Pawel Socha, C.M., Auxiliary Bishop of Zielona Góra-Gorzów, Poland and Titular of Thunigaba
    (Original name of Diocese was Gorzów)
  • 12 Jul 1975, 7 Sep 1930, Bishop Roland Aboujaoudé, Auxiliary of Antiochia {Antioch} (Maronite), Lebanon and Titular of Arca in Phoenicia dei Maroniti
  • 28 Nov 1977, 25 Nov 1936, Bishop Kenneth Donald Steiner, Auxiliary of Portland in Oregon, USA and Titular of Avensa
Bishop Francis Hong Yong-ho was named by Pope Pius XII. Although he is still officially listed as "missing" it seems unlikely that he remains alive.

Bishop Joseph Dao was named by Pope John Paul I.

All of the others were named by Pope Paul VI.

You'll notice that many of them are at or near the retirement age. Before they do retire, let us take a moment to thank them for their many years of service!

02 December 2010

View of Rome from the Dome of St. Peter′s Basilica

A panorama created from some photos that I took today from the Dome of St. Peter's Basilica.


27 November 2010

20 October 2010

Random Facts about the 2010 class of Cardinals

When the new 24 Cardinals-Designate join the college, it will lower the average age by 0.7 years to 77.85 (0.5 years among just the electors to 72.50).

The average age of the new voting members is just under 70. (Compared to 66.8 in 2007 and 67.6 in 2006.)

The number of voting members will total 121 on 20 November, but it will fall back to 120 toward the end of January 2011. At the last consistory to create cardinals (2007), Pope Benedict XVI intended to make the number of voting members total 121, but Stephen Fumio Cardinal Hamao died before the consistory.

Cardinal-Designate Reinhard Marx (Archbishop of München und Freising {Munich}, Germany) will become the youngest member of the college at age: 57.2. He is taking the spot from Péter Cardinal Erdõ (Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary) currently age 58.3.

In an unusual move, two of the cardinals-designate are retired residential bishops: Medardo Joseph Mazombwe (Archbishop Emeritus of Lusaka, Zambia; Age: 79.2) and Raúl Eduardo Vela Chiriboga, (Archbishop Emeritus of Quito, Ecuador; Age: 76.9).

31 August 2010

Cardinal Electors, by the Numbers, an update

As of today, there are 106 Cardinal Electors out of 179 total living Cardinals.

In the month of September, three more Cardinals will turn 80 and lose their vote. An additional Cardinal loses their vote in each of October and November.

By mid-November, the Cardinal Elector count will be down to 101.

From there, the number is stable until late January, then in a period of 4 weeks, 4 more Cardinals turn 80.

A List of Cardinal Electors by Age.

04 July 2010

The Dozen Largest Orders by Number of Priests

The top 12 largest orders (by number of priests) in total are 51% of all the priests in orders. In the table below is the number of priests, % of all priests in orders, and the name of the order.
Priests%Order
13,09610%Society of Jesus
10,7808%Salesians of Saint John Bosco
10,1247%Order of Friars Minor
6,9445%Order of Friars Minor Capuchin
4,4663%Order of Friars Preachers
4,1433%Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer
4,1153%Order of Saint Benedict
4,0473%Society of the Divine Word
3,1402%Oblates of Mary Immaculate
3,0682%Congregation of the Mission
2,9512%Order of Friars Minor Conventual
2,7252%Order of Discalced Carmelites
The next order in this sequence drops to only 2,187 priests. The top two dozen largest orders include all that have more than 1,000 priests. (Numbers based on the Annuario Pontificio 2010)

11 January 2010

Pre-Pope John Paul II Bishops (updated)

It has been a few months since my last post listing the pre-Pope John Paul II bishops. So here is a fresh list - with 8 fewer entries than the original.

So on to the question: How many active bishops were appointed to their current post before Pope John Paul II became Pope?

The answer is Thirty Four Twenty Nine ordinaries and Five auxiliary bishops.

(Last updated 2 May 2010)

The ordinaries are: (Date of Appointment, Date of Birth, Name, Title)
and the Auxiliaries:
Bishop Francis Hong Yong-ho was named by Pope Pius XII. Although he is still officially listed as "missing" it seems unlikely that he remains alive.

Bishop Joseph Dao was named by Pope John Paul I.

All of the others were named by Pope Paul VI.

You'll notice that many of them are at or near the retirement age. Before they do retire, let us take a moment to thank them for their many years of service!

03 January 2010

Quick Look: College of Cardinals as it ages

Since so many folks are now predicting a consistory to create cardinals later this year, it seems like a good time to take a look at the current college as it ages in the coming years.

There are a total of 183 living cardinals, with 112 of those under the age of 80 and thus able to vote in a conclave were it to become necessary.

Only 30 of those 112 were created cardinals by Pope Benedict XVI, all of the remaining cardinal electors were created by Pope John Paul II.

Eleven cardinals will lose their vote this year as they reach 80 - all were created by Pope John Paul II.

Nine more cardinals will lose their vote next year for the same reason. But two of those were created by Pope Benedict XVI.

Thirteen more lose their vote in 2012. Two of this group were created by Pope Benedict XVI.

The following table is for Cardinal Electors only.
End ofJP2 CardsB16 CardsTotal
20098230112
20107130101
2011642892
2012532679
2013442569
2014372360

Here are a couple of links that might be useful for further research: Cardinal Electors by Age and Cardinals by Rank.

Note: all of the above figures assume no Cardinal dies before reaching the age of 80 and obviously don't include any new Cardinals created.