POPE BENEDICT the sixteenth HAS TODAY INDUCTED 24 NEW CARDINALS OR 'PRINCES OF THE CHURCH' AT A CEREMONY IN ST PETER'S BASILICA.
THE ZAMBIAN 79-YEAR-OLD ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS OF LUSAKA IN ZAMBIA, MEDARDO JOSEPH MAZOMBWE WAS AMONG THE 24 CARDINALS THAT THE POPE INDUCTED THIS MORNING.
TWENTY OF THE NEW CARDINALS ARE UNDER 80 YEARS OLD, WHICH MEANS THAT THEY WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO TAKE PART IN THE CONCLAVE THAT WILL ELECT THE NEXT POPE.
THEY INCLUDE CLERICS FROM ZAMBIA, EGYPT, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, SRI LANKA, BRAZIL, ECUADOR, THE UNITED STATES, POLAND, GERMANY AND ITALY.
AMONG THE NEW CARDINALS IS THE PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRA, ANTONIOS NAGUIB, THE TOP CLERIC OF THE COPTIC CATHOLIC CHURCH, WHICH UNLIKE THE LARGER EGYPTIAN COPTIC CHURCH - BOTH ARE MINORITIES IN A LARGELY MUSLIM NATION - RECOGNISES THE ROMAN PONTIFF AS ITS LEADER.
OTHER AFRICAN CARDINAL CANDIDATES INCLUDE THE ARCHBISHOP OF KINSHASA IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, AND FORMER CONAKRY, GUINEA, ARCHBISHOP ROBERT SARAH, WHO AS PRESIDENT OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL 'COR UNUM' FOR CHARITY WORK IS ONE OF THE TOP AFRICAN OFFICIALS IN THE VATICAN.
FROM ASIA, SRI LANKA'S TOP CATHOLIC CLERIC, ALBERT MALCOLM RANJITH PATABENDIGE DON, THE ARCHBISHOP OF COLOMBO, WILL ALSO RECEIVE HIS RED HAT FROM BENEDICT.
JOINING THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS FROM LATIN AMERICA ARE THE ARCHBISHOP EMERITUS OF QUITO IN ECUADOR, RAUL EDUARDO VELA CHIRIBOGA, AND THE ARCHBISHOP OF APARECIDA IN BRAZIL, RAYMUNDO DAMASCENO ASSIS.
THE CONSISTORY IS THE THIRD OF BENEDICT'S PAPACY, AFTER PREVIOUS EDITIONS IN MARCH 2006 AND NOVEMBER 2007.
ENDS///////////////////
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