February 18, 2012. (Romereports.com) The Catholic Church has welcomed 22 new cardinals, among them is the Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, the bishop of Hong Kong, John Tong Hon, the Vatican's former “number three,” Fernando Filoni, and the Spaniard Santos Abril. The pope presided over the ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica, which showed a smiling Benedict XVI.


Benedict XVI
“The Cardinals are expected to serve the Church with love and strength, with the cleanliness and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and strength of the shepherds, with fidelity and courage of the martyrs.”

Before becoming cardinals, the group swore allegiance and obedience to the pope and his successors.

The pope then called on them one by one, giving each the hat and ring of a cardinal along with the papal bull of the appointment.

In some cases, placing the hat, was not as easy as it sounds.

From that moment on they are cardinals, and the first thing they do is greet the other cardinals.

It's not often that all of the cardinals are gathered together. The pope took the opportunity to announce that on October 21 there will be seven new saints.

Two of which are American, Marianne Cope, and Kateri Tekakwitha, one of the first American Indians to convert to Christianity.

There is also María del Monte Carmelo from Spain. The founder of the Conception mission for teaching. The Philippines welcomes their second saint, the martyr Pedro Calungsod.

Also being canonized on that day will be the Italian Giovanni Battista Piamarta, from France Jacques Berthieu, and Germany's Anna Schäfer.


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