VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 28, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address John Paul II delivered today before reciting the midday Angelus, in which he announced the elevation of 31 new cardinals.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters:
1. The month of October, month of the rosary, is about to begin. I entrust to the Virgin in a particular way the consistory I want to hold on Oct. 21, on the occasion of the 25th year of my pontificate. In it, once again going beyond the numerical limit established, I shall create new cardinals.
2. Among them, first of all, are some of my collaborators in the Roman Curia. These are their names:
— Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran;
— Archbishop Renato Raffaele Martino;
— Archbishop Francesco Marchisano;
— Archbishop Julián Herranz;
— Archbishop Javier Lozano Barragán;
— Archbishop Stephen Fumio Hamao;
— Archbishop Attilio Nicora.
Then there are 19 pastors of as many local Churches. Their names are:
— Archbishop Angelo Scola, patriarch of Venice [Italy];
— Archbishop Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, archbishop of Lagos [Nigeria];
— Archbishop Bernard Panafieu, archbishop of Marseilles [France];
— Archbishop Gabriel Zubeir Wako, archbishop of Khartoum [Sudan];
— Archbishop Carlos Amigo Vallejo, archbishop of Seville [Spain];
— Archbishop Justin Francis Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia [Pennsylvania];
— Archbishop Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien, archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh [Scotland];
— Archbishop Eusebio Oscar Scheid, SCJ, archbishop of Sao Sebastian of Rio de Janeiro [Brazil];
— Archbishop Ennio Antonelli, archbishop of Florence [Italy] — Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, archbishop of Genoa [Italy];
— Archbishop Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast [Ghana];
— Archbishop Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi [India];
— Archbishop George Pell, archbishop of Sydney [Australia];
— Archbishop Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb [Croatia];
— Archbishop Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, archbishop of Ho Chi City [Vietnam];
— Archbishop Rodolfo Quezada Toruño, archbishop of Guatemala City [Guatemala] — Archbishop Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon [France];
— Archbishop Peter Erdö, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest [Hungary];
— Archbishop Marc Ouellet, PPS, archbishop of Quebec [Canada].
Among the new cardinals in addition are four ecclesiastics with particular merits due to their commitment in the service of the Church. They are:
— Father Georges Marie Martin Cottier, OP, theologian of the Papal Household [Switzerland];
— Monsignor Gustaaf Joos, of the Diocese of Gand [Belgium];
— Father Thomas Spidlik, SJ [Czech Republic];
— Father Stanislas Nagy, of the priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus [Poland].
Finally, I wish to say that I have appointed cardinal another distinguished prelate, whose name I reserve «in pectore.»
3. The candidates to the cardinal’s hat come from various parts of the world and carry out different tasks at the service of the People of God. All together, with the multiplicity of their services, they reflect the universality of the Church.
Let us entrust the newly elected to the Holy Virgin, invoking her maternal protection on them and their respective tasks in the vineyard of the Lord.
[Translation by ZENIT]
