When does a Cardinal become a Cardinal?

It seems that every time the Pope announces his intention to hold a consistory to create new cardinals there arises the question of when does a Cardinal-Designate become a Cardinal (i.e., could he vote in a conclave should it be needed, etc.)

According to Canon Law (Canon 351§2): "Cardinals are created by a decree of the Roman Pontiff, which in fact is published in the presence of the College of Cardinals. From the moment of publication, they are bound by the obligations and they enjoy the rights defined in the law."

So the question becomes, does the announcement (such as on Wednesday 17 October 2007) constitute "publication"?

The Holy Father indirectly made this clear in his introduction to the announcement. He mentions that he is abrogating “by one” the rule of 120 Cardinal Electors. The key point there is “by one”. For on that day there are 104 Cardinals under the age of 80 and thus Cardinal Electors.

He named 18 new Cardinal Electors. Thus giving us 122 Cardinal Electors if he intended the announcement as the official publication.

It should be noted that Cardinal Sodano turned 80 and lost the right to vote on 23 November 2007.

So, if the Holy Father intends to aborgate the rule “by one” as he clearly stated, then the official publication could not occur before 23 November 2007. (And, of course, 24 November 2007 is the stated date for the Consistory itself.)

Thus it becomes clear that the announcement is not "publication" - and so the Cardinal-Designates remain Cardinal-Designates until the consistory.

(Revised to update link, now only available in Italian)

How Big Is A Trillion?

With all the recent discussions about spending a trillion on this and a trillion on that, it might be worth considering just what a trillion is.

Yes, its 1000 x 1000 x 1000 x 1000 or 1,000,000,000,000 but that doesn't tell the story.

Let's look at it another way.

If someone spent $1,000 the very minute Jesus Christ was born. I mean that's a lot of frankincense, myhr, and gold. But hey, God isn't born every minute either.

Oops, ok, enough of the sidetrack.

So then a minute passes and this someone says that was cool ... I'm going to spend another $1,000 this minute.

A minute later, he realizes this is fun ... and spends another $1,000.

So he does this every minute of that very first hour of Christ's earthly life.

And then he thinks of something else to spend on ... and continues to spend $1,000 every minute for the entire first day of Our Saviour's time on earth.

Thirty Three years later Our Lord and Saviour is Crucified.

Our little spender decides to keep spending $1,000 every minute to drown his sorrows.

A few decades later, still spending $1,000 every single minute, he finds the fountain of youth.

Oh, just in case you are keeping track ... after the first century, he had spent about $52 billion.

So, 20 centuries and change later ... having spent $1,000 a minute for every single minute since the birth of Christ ... our little spender would be up to $1.056 trillion.

Shanice's Story

18 year old woman goes to abortion clinic seeking their "service".

Doctor is late arriving.

She goes into labor and gives birth to a baby girl.

One of the clinic's owners (no medical license) puts the live baby girl in a plastic bag and throws it out.

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Don't think this could really happen?

The baby girl was named Shanice. The mother was Sycloria Williams. The doctor was Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique. The person who put the live baby girl in the trash was Belkis Gonzalez. It happened in Miami, Florida on 20 July 2006.

Other babies born at the same age (23 weeks or just under 6 months) have survived.

No charges have been filed.

AP story.

Thanks to American Papist for finding the story.