For new cardinals, a ceremony full of symbols

Published: 2006-03-24

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The main elements in the ceremonies surrounding the creation of new cardinals are red, hat, church and ring. When Pope Benedict XVI elevated 15 new members into the College of Cardinals March 24, they already were dressed in their new red cassocks. As French Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, one of the 15, told Vatican Radio: "Red is the color of love, of fire, and it is also the color of the Passion. It is said that the cardinals must be ready even to shed their blood" for Christ and his church. One by one, the new cardinals knelt before the pope so he could place the four-cornered red hat, or biretta, on their heads. Next, each cardinal was given a scroll testifying to his new office and containing the name of his titular church in Rome. By receiving the "title" to a Rome church, each cardinal formally became part of Rome's clergy. This connects the modern tradition of the College of Cardinals electing a pope to the early church practice of Rome's clergy electing their bishop. The cardinals' new status and relationship with the pope were to be sealed with a ring at a March 25 Mass.

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