Induction of new Cardinals on March 24

Special Correspondent

ROME: Pope Benedict XVI induct 15 new members of the College of Cardinals, three of them from Asia, on March 24.

The Pope said he had followed the rule set down by Pope Paul VI in 1973 limiting the cardinal-electors to 120. He also said his nominees reflect the universality of the Church since they come from different parts of the world and carry out a great variety of tasks Cardinal-electors currently number 110, but two of them will turn 80 before April.

Besides the three new Cardinal-electors from Asia, four head European archdioceses, three are Vatican officials and two head archdioceses in the Americas. The three other cardinals, all retired archbishops, are from Belgium, Ghana and Italy. The Pope said he nominated them "because of the service they rendered to the Church" over many years "with extraordinary fidelity and dedication."

Pope Benedict announced the names of the new cardinals at the end of his public audience on February 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. He set the date of his first consistory for March 24 and said he would celebrate the Mass with the new inductees the following day, the feast of the Annunciation.

He also announced he would hold a one day meeting of reflection and prayer with the whole College of Cardinals on March 23.

The Pope said he chose the feast of the Chair of St. Peter as "a particularly appropriate date" to announce new cardinals, because "the cardinals have the task of sustaining and assisting the Successor of Peter."

Pope Benedict then named the new Cardinal-electors in the following order:

*Archbishop William Levada, United States, his successor as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; *Archbishop Franc Rode, Slovenia, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated life and Societies of Apostolic Life; *Archbishop Agostino Vallini, Italy, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature, the highest tribunal in the Vatican; *Archbishop Jorge Urosa Savino, Venezuela, Archbishop of Caracas; *Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, Philippines, Archbishop of Manila; *Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard, France, Archbishop of Bordeaux; *Archbishop Antonio Canizares Llovera, Spain, Archbishop of Toledo *Archbishop Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, Korea, Archbishop of Seoul; *Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley, United States, archbishop of Boston; *Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, Poland, archbishop of Krakow and former secretary to the late Pope John Paul II. *Archbishop Carlo Caffara, Italy, Archbishop of Bologna *Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, China, bishop of Hong Kong.

Three cardinals over 80 years of age are :-

Archbishop Andrea Cordero Montezemolo, Italy; Archbishop Peter Dery, Ghana; Archbishop Albert Vanhoye, Belgium, a Jesuit and Biblical scholar.