FIRST CONGREGATIONS OF CARDINALS THIS COMING MONDAY

Vatican City, 1 March 2013 (VIS) - Today, the first day of the Sede Vacante, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, has begun to summon the cardinals to the first of the General Congregations, as provided for by the Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis”.

This first General Congregation will take place on Monday, 4 March, at 9:30am in the Synod of Bishops Hall. A second General Congregation is also scheduled for 5:00pm in the same place.

Following is the text of the letter:

“As prescribed in the Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis” of 22 February 1996 at No. 19, analogous to the case of the death of the Supreme Pontiff, I have the duty to officially communicate to Your Eminence the news of the vacancy of the Apostolic See from the renunciation presented by Pope Benedict XVI effective from yesterday evening, 28 February, at 8:00pm in Rome.”

“On communicating this to you I fulfil my duty of summoning Your Eminence to the first of the General Congregations of the College of Cardinals, to be held on Monday, 4 March, at 9:30am in the Synod of Bishops Room in the Paul VI Hall.”

“The General Congregations will then continue normally until the complete number of Cardinal electors is gathered and the College of Cardinals decides the date for those Cardinal electors to enter into Conclave on the basis of what the recent Motu Proprio of 22 February established regarding modifications in the norms relating to the election of the Roman Pontiff.”

“On my part, I am pleased to take this opportunity to send you my fraternal greetings.”

MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS

Vatican City, 1 March 2013 (VIS) – The College of Cardinals is currently comprised of 207 cardinals: 117 Cardinal electors who can vote in the election of the Pope and 90 cardinals who are over the age of 80. First in the order of the hierarchy are Cardinal-bishops. Currently six in number, these were originally the bishops of the "suburbicarian" dioceses of Rome. Still today the Cardinal-bishops are assigned one of these seven suburbicarian Sees, even though they are not bishops of the diocese. Alongside the titular Cardinal-bishops of those Sees in the hierarchy of the Church (with the exception of Ostia's titular who, since 1150, has been the dean of the College of Cardinals), Pope Paul VI added, in his motu proprio of 1965, “Ad Purpuratorum Patrum”, the patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches. The patriarchs are not assigned any further title because the names of each of their patriarchal Sees are already included in their title as cardinal.

Second and most numerous in the three orders of cardinals are the Cardinal-priests who are assigned the “titulos” (title) of the important churches of the Diocese of Rome.

Last in the order of cardinals are the Cardinal-deacons who were originally the seven deacons in the Papal Household and the seven deacons who supervised the Church's works in the districts of Rome during the early Middle Ages, when church administration was effectively the government of Rome and provided for all of the city's social services. Cardinal-deacons today are given title to one of these deaconries.

Following is the complete list of the College of Cardinals according to their respective order of precedence. Cardinal electors are marked with an asterisk.

Cardinal-Bishops

SODANO Angelo

ETCHEGARAY Roger

*RE Giovanni Battista

ARINZE Francis

*BERTONE Tarcisio

SARAIVA MARTINS José

Cardinal-Bishop Patriarchs

SFEIR Nasrallah Pierre

DELLY Emmanuel III

*NAGUIB Antonios

*RAÏ Béchara Boutros

Cardinal-Priests

ARNS Paulo Evaristo

BAUM William Wakefield

CÉ Marco

MACHARSKI Franciszek

KITBUNCHU Michael Michai

do NASCIMENTO Alexandre

*DANNEELS Godfried

WILLIAMS Thomas Stafford

*MEISNER Joachim

LOURDUSAMY D. Simon

OBANDO BRAVO Miguel

VIDAL Ricardo J.

GULBINOWICZ Henryk Roman

TOMKO Jozef

POUPARD Paul

WETTER Friedrich

PIOVANELLI Silvano

SIMONIS Adrianus Johannes

LAW Bernard Francis

BIFFI Giacomo

MARTÍNEZ SOMALO Eduardo

SILVESTRINI Achille

FALCÃO José Freire

SANTOS Alexandre José Maria dos

CANESTRI Giovanni

PIMENTA Simon Ignatius

CLANCY Edward Bede

SZOKA Edmund Casimir

PASKAI László

TUMI Christian Wiyghan

CASSIDY Edward Idris

*LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ Nicolas de Jesús

ANGELINI Fiorenzo

*MAHONY Roger Michael

RUINI Camillo

KOREC Ján Chryzostom

SCHWERY Henri

VLK Miloslav

FURNO Carlo

*DARMAATMADJA Julius Riyadi

*ORTEGA Y ALAMINO Jaime Lucas

AGUSTONI Gilberto

WAMALA Emmanuel

KEELER William Henry

*TURCOTTE Jean-Claude

CARLES GORDÓ Ricardo María

MAIDA Adam Joseph

*PULJIĆ Vinko

*SANDOVAL ÍÑIGUEZ Juan

TONINI Ersilio

MEDINA ESTÉVEZ Jorge Arturo

CASTRILLÓN HOYOS Darío

ANTONETTI Lorenzo

STAFFORD James Francis

DE GIORGI Salvatore

ARAÚJO Serafim FERNANDES de

*ROUCO VARELA Antonio María

*TETTAMANZI Dionigi

*PENGO Polycarp

*SCHÖNBORN Christoph

*RIVERA CARRERA Norberto

*GEORGE Francis Eugene

JAWORSKI Marian

PUJATS Jānis

CACCIAVILLAN Agostino

SEBASTIANI Sergio

*GROCHOLEWSKI Zenon

*SEPE Crescenzio

MEJÍA Jorge María

*KASPER Walter

*DIAS Ivan

*AGNELO Geraldo Majella

RUBIANO SÁENZ Pedro

MCCARRICK Theodore Edgar

CONNELL Desmond

*BAČKIS Audrys Juozas

*ERRÁZURRIZ OSSA Francisco Javier

*TERRAZAS SANDOVAL Julio

*NAPIER Wilfrid Fox

*RODRÍGUEZ MARADIAGA Óscar Andrés

AGRÉ Bernard

*CIPRIANI Thorne Juan Luis

ÁLVAREZ MARTÍNEZ Francisco

*HUMMES Cláudio

*BERGOGLIO Jorge Mario

*POLICARPO José da Cruz

*POLETTO Severino

MURPHY-O'CONNOR Cormac

EGAN Edward Michael

HUSAR Lubomyr

*LEHMANN Karl

TUCCI Roberto

*SCOLA Angelo

*OKOGIE Anthony Olubunmi

PANAFIEU Bernard

*ZUBEIR Wako Gabriel

*AMIGO VALLEJO Carlos

*RIGALI Justin Francis

*O'BRIEN Keith Michael Patrick

SCHEID Eusébio Oscar

*ANTONELLI Ennio

*TURKSON Peter Kodwo Appiah

*TOPPO Telesphore Placidus

*PELL George

*BOZANIĆ Josip

*PHAM MINH MÂN Jean-Baptiste

*BARBARIN Philippe

*ERDŐ Péter

*OUELLET Marc

*VALLINI Agostino

*UROSA SAVINO Jorge Liberato

ROSALES Gaudencio B.

*RICARD Jean-Pierre

*CAÑIZARES LLOVERA Antonio

CHEONG Jinsuk Nicholas

*O'MALLEY Sean Patrick

*DZIWISZ Stanisław

*CAFFARRA Carlo

ZEN ZE-KIUN Joseph

*BRADY Seán Baptist

*MARTÍNEZ SISTACH Lluís

*VINGT-TROIS André

*BAGNASCO Angelo

*SARR Théodore-Adrien

*GRACIAS Oswald

*ROBLES ORTEGA Francisco

*DiNARDO Daniel N.

*SCHERER Odilo Pedro

*NJUE John

KARLIC Estanislao Esteban

MAZOMBWE Medardo Joseph

*VELA CHIRIBOGA Raúl Eduardo

*MONSENGWO PASINYA Laurent

*ROMEO Paolo

*WUERL Donald William

*ASSIS Raymundo DAMASCENO

*NYCZ Kazimierz

*PATABENDIGE DON Albert Malcolm Ranjith

*MARX Reinhard

ESTEPA LLAURENS José Manuel

*ALENCHERRY George

*COLLINS Thomas Christopher

*DUKA Dominik

*EIJK Willem Jacobus

*BETORI Giuseppe

*DOLAN Timothy Michael

*WOELKI Rainer Maria

*TONG HON John

MUREŞAN Lucian

*THOTTUNKAL Baselios Cleemis

*ONAIYEKAN John Olorunfemi

*SALAZAR GÓMEZ Rubén

*TAGLE Luis Antonio

Cardinal-Deacons

*TAURAN Jean-Louis

MARTINO Renato Raffaele

MARCHISANO Francesco

HERRANZ Julián

LOZANO BARRAGÁN Javier

*NICORA Attilio

COTTIER Georges Marie Martin

NAGY Stanisław

*LEVADA William Joseph

*RODÉ Franc

CORDERO LANZA di Montezemolo Andrea

VANHOYE Albert

*SANDRI Leonardo

*LAJOLO Giovanni

*CORDES Paul Josef

*COMASTRI Angelo

*RYŁKO Stanisław

*FARINA Raffaele

COPPA Giovanni

*AMATO Angelo

*SARAH Robert

*MONTERISI Francesco

*BURKE Raymond Leo

*KOCH Kurt

*SARDI Paolo

*PIACENZA Mauro

*DE PAOLIS Velasio

*RAVASI Gianfranco

SGRECCIA Elio

BRANDMÜLLER Walter

BARTOLUCCI Domenico

*FILONI Fernando

*MONTEIRO de CASTRO Manuel

*ABRIL y CASTELLÓ Santos

*VEGLIÒ Antonio Maria

*BERTELLO Giuseppe

*COCCOPALMERIO Francesco

*AVIZ João BRAZ de

*O'BRIEN Edwin Frederick

*CALCAGNO Domenico

*VERSALDI Giuseppe

GRECH Prosper

BECKER Karl

*HARVEY James Michael

CARDINAL SODANO EXPRESSES COLLEGE OF CARDINALS' NEARNESS TO POPE

Vatican City, 11 February 2013 (VIS) - Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, on hearing the news of the Pope's resignation from the Petrine ministry, expressed his nearness, and that of all the cardinals, to Benedict XVI.

"We have heard you," he said, "with a sense of loss and almost disbelief. In your words we see the great affection that you have always had for God's Holy Church, for this Church that you have loved so much. Now, let me say, on behalf of this apostolic cenacle―the College of Cardinals―on behalf of your beloved collaborators, allow me to say that we are closer than ever to you, as we have been during these almost eight luminous years of your pontificate. On 19 April 2005, if I remember correctly, at the end of the conclave I asked … 'Do you accept your canonical election as Supreme Pontiff?' And you did not hesitate, although moved with emotion, to answer that you accepted, trusting in the Lord's grace and the maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church. Like Mary on that day she gave her 'yes', and your luminous pontificate began, following in the wake of continuity, in that continuity with your 265 predecessors in the Chair of Peter, over two thousand years of history from the Apostle Peter, the humble Galilean fisherman, to the great popes of the last century from St. Pius X to Blessed John Paul II."

"Holy Father, before 28 February, the day that, as you have said, you wish to place the word 'end' to your pontifical service, conducted with so much love and so humbly, before 28 February, we will be able to better express our feelings. So too will the many pastors and faithful throughout the world, so too all those of good will together with the authorities of many countries. … Also, still this month, we will have the joy of listening to your voice as pastor: Ash Wednesday, Thursday with the clergy of Rome, in the Sunday Angelus, and the Wednesday general audiences, we will still have many occasions to hear your paternal voice. … Your mission, however, will continue. You have said that you will always be near us with your witness and your prayer. Of course, the stars always continue to shine and so will the star of your pontificate always shine among us. We are near to you, Holy Father, and we ask you to bless us."