MANILA, Philippines — Pope Benedict XVI named 22 New Cardinals on January 6, 2012, following an Epiphany Mass that ended the Vatican’s main Christmas Celebrations. The newly named Cardinals are from the United States, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, India, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, Germany, China, Romania, Belgium, and Malta. The Consistory, the ceremony to formally elevate the new Cardinals to the College of Cardinals on February 18-19, 2012, in Rome.

Cardinals are an elite group of church leaders and are the Pope’s top advisers. Of the 22 new Cardinals, 18 are under the age of 80, raising to 125 the number of cardinals eligible to choose in the next Papal Conclave a new leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics. Cardinals aged 80 and over are not allowed to cast votes.

A Cardinal’s main function is electing the Pope whenever, deceased or resignation, the seat becomes vacant. He is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. Most Cardinals have additional duties, such as leading a diocese or archdiocese or running a department of the Roman Curia. Cardinals also serve on a number of committees within the Church.

The 18 new cardinals under 80 are: Santos Abril y Castello (Spanish), Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major; George Alencherry (Indian), Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church in India; Giuseppe Bertello (Italian), President of the Government of the Vatican City State; Giuseppe Betori (Italian), Archbishop of Florence; Joao Braz de Aviz (Brazil), Prefect of the Congregation for Religious; Domenico Calcagno (Italian), President of the Apostolic Patrimony of the Holy See; Francesco Coccopalmerio (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts; Thomas Collins (Canadian), Archbishop of Toronto; Timothy Dolan (United States), Archbishop of New York; Dominik Duka (Czech), Archbishop of Prague; Willem Eijk (Dutch), Archbishop of Utrecht; Fernando Filoni (Italian), Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples; Antonio Maria Veglio (Italian), President of the Pontifical Council for Migrants and Refugees; Manuel Monteiro de Castro (Portuguese), Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary; Edwin O-Brien (United States), Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre; John Tong Hon (Chinese), Bishop of Hong Kong; Giuseppe Versaldi (Italian), President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See; and, Rainer Maria Woelk (German), Archbishop of Berlin. The four new Cardinals over 80 are: Karl Becker (German), a priest and professor; Prospero Grech (Maltese), a priest and professor; Lucian Muresan (Romanian), an archbishop; and, Julien Ries, (Belgian), a monsignor and professor.

We greet Their Eminences, 22 New Cardinals of the Catholic Church. We wish them the best and success as they perform their spiritual duties of assisting His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, in bringing the message of new evangelization to as many peoples in many nations of the globe. CONGRATULATIONS!