• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
AFRIPOL

AFRIPOL

en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanit Italianpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanish
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Mission Statement
  • Articles
  • Book Review
  • Archive
  • Contact Us

Pope Benedict names 6 cardinals, including a Nigerian

October 24, 2012 by Admin Leave a Comment

Written by AP

Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan
AP Photo/Andrew Medichini,

Pope Benedict XVI named six new cardinals including  Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan

Pope Benedict XVI named six new cardinals on Wednesday, adding prelates from Lebanon, the Philippines, Nigeria, Colombia, India and the United States to the ranks of senior churchmen who will elect his successor.

Among them is Archbishop James Harvey, the American prefect of the papal household who was the direct superior of the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele. Gabriele was convicted Oct. 6 of stealing the pope’s private papers and leaking them to a reporter in the greatest Vatican security breach in modern times. Harvey will now become archpriest of a Roman basilica. The Vatican spokesman denied he was being removed because of the scandal.

Benedict, 85, announced the new cardinals during his weekly general audience and said they would be formally elevated at a consistory Nov. 24. The nominations help even out the geographic distribution of cardinals, which had tilted heavily toward Europe in general in the last few consistories and Italy in particular.

With the new cardinals, there will be 120 cardinals under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Europe still has the most, with 62. But with the new additions, the College of Cardinals is a tad more multinational: Latin America will have 21, North America 14, Africa 11, Asia 11 and Oceana one.

Aside from Harvey, the new cardinals are: Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan; Archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, Ruben Salazar Gomez; Archbishop of Manila, Philippines, Luis Antonio Tagle; Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites in Lebanon, His Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai; and the major Archbishop of the Trivandrum of the Siro-Malankaresi in India, His Beatitude Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal.

Harvey, a native of Milwaukee, became prefect of the papal household in 1998 after serving for less than a year as a top administrator, the assessor, in the Vatican’s secretariat of state. His office organizes the pope’s schedule, and one of his most visible duties was to escort visiting dignitaries through the Apostolic Palace to the pope’s library.

Gabriele, 46, worked as an usher in the Vatican’s secretariat of state before coming to work for Harvey. In 2006, Gabriele was named Benedict’s butler, replacing Pope John Paul II’s longtime butler, Angelo Gugel.

In announcing the new cardinals, Benedict said he was naming Harvey, 63, archpriest of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, one of the Vatican’s basilicas in southern Rome.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi denied any connection between the leaks scandal and Harvey’s new posting, saying it was “more than normal” that after 14 years as prefect, Harvey would be named a cardinal. That said, Harvey’s predecessor, Cardinal Dino Monduzzi, retired as prefect after reaching 75 and was named a cardinal.

Harvey, 63, is well shy of the normal retirement age for bishops.

The timing of the move is also remarkable. Just Tuesday, the Vatican tribunal that convicted Gabriele issued its written explanations for reaching its verdict, saying the theft caused “reprehensible” damage to the pontiff, the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church.

The Vatican has taken such actions in the past. Last week, Benedict transferred to the United States the No. 2 official in the Vatican’s office for religious orders, Archbishop Joseph Tobin, who had spoken out in support of American nuns in the wake of a Vatican crackdown.

Last year, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the then-No. 2 administrator of the Vatican City State, begged the pope not to be transferred after exposing corruption that cost the Vatican millions of dollars. He was named the pope’s envoy to Washington soon thereafter. Lombardi said he “never would have imagined” that a face-saving promotion was behind Harvey’s move to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls.

___

Filed Under: Strategic Research & Analysis

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

More to See

(video) Sentencing of Ike Ekweremadu, wife for organ harvesting

May 6, 2023 By AFRIPOL

Ike Ekweremadu: Organ-trafficking Nigerian politician and wife send to Prison

May 5, 2023 By AFRIPOL

RSS AllAfrica News: Latest

  • South Africa: High Court Blocks Zuma's Private Prosecution Bid
    [allAfrica] Cape Town -- The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg has set aside former president Jacob Zuma's bid to prosecute News24 journalist Karyn Maughan and prosecutor Billy Downer, News24 reports. This comes after Maughan and Downer made a legal challenge against the former president who alleged that Downer was responsible for leaking private medical information […]
  • Cameroon: Journalists Say Suspensions Are Sign of Government Crackdown
    [VOA] Yaounde -- Journalists in Cameroon say the government's indefinite shutdown of a radio station and suspension of four reporters is a sign of a growing crackdown on the country's news media. The government says it is trying to stop the spread of hate speech, while journalists say officials want to retaliate against criticism of […]
  • Malawi: Malawi Revokes Dubious Citizenship of Refugees Wanted Abroad
    [VOA] Blantyre -- Malawi's government has started revoking citizenship of refugees and asylum-seekers who they say obtained their status fraudulently.
  • Sudan: North Darfur's Kutum Has Fallen Into RSF Hands
    [Dabanga] Kutum -- Journalist and political analyst Abdelrahman El Ajab told Radio Dabanga that the town of Kutum in North Darfur has fallen under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Dozens died and people fear a civil war.
  • Algeria: UN Security Council to Welcome Five New Non-Permanent Members
    [UN News] Five countries have been elected as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council following a vote in the General Assembly on Tuesday.
  • Africa: Does Artificial Intelligence Need a Regulatory UN Watchdog?
    [IPS] United Nations -- The frighteningly rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have triggered the question: is there a UN role for monitoring and regulating it?

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Footer

Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center, AFRIPOL is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa.

Recent

  • Nigerian immigrant Yemi Mobolade breaks GOP stronghold and wins mayoral election in Colorado (video)
  • Why these African Americans cried upon their first visit to Africa (Ghana)
  • Tina Turner: “Africans are very lazy people” (1976)
  • I will never call Tinubu my president.- Pastor Tunde Bakare
  • LIVE! PETER OBI CHATS WITH NIGERIANS

Search

Tags

Achebe Africa Anambra Boko Haram Buhari CBN Corona Virus Egypt Igbo IMF Inflation Jonathan Kenya Nigeria Okonjo Iweala Peter Obi Sanusi Senate Soludo South Africa Soyinka United States

Copyright © 2023 ยท AFRIPOL