Global club: Cardinals getting acquainted, but not talking new pope

Published: 2003-10-17

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Fifty years ago, when the College of Cardinals met in a consistory, it was like getting together with the old gang. About 20 of the 70 cardinals lived in Rome, and another eight resided in Italy. All told, 50 of the cardinals lived in Europe and regularly crossed paths in Rome or at the Vatican. Today, the College of Cardinals is a global club whose members are dispersed across six continents. The 194 members hail from 69 countries, and many of the cardinals get to Rome once a year or less. The old gang now needs name tags. "It is a big problem because we hardly know each other. We are spread all over the globe. And now there are 30 new cardinals," Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, Eastern archbishop of Lviv, Ukraine, said Oct. 16 in Rome, where the cardinals were gathering for a week of celebrations for Pope John Paul II's 25th anniversary.

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