Vatican: What is a consistory in the Catholic Church? Answers to your questions

This Saturday, December 7, Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals in a consistory in Rome, including 5 Latin Americans and the archbishops of Tehran, Tokyo and Toronto, among others.

Here’s everything you need to know:

Cardinals are the Pope’s closest assistants and advisors around the world. A consistory is a formal meeting of the College of Cardinals and can be called by the Pope for various reasons.

One of the most common ways to create a consistory, like the one now, is the creation of new cardinals. The ceremony in which the Pope creates cardinals is known as an ordinary public consistory.

Another consistory that the Pope can convene is the ordinary one to vote, for example, on the causes of new saints, the last step before a formal canonization.

There are also extraordinary consistories, in which all cardinals are expected to participate, except for serious reasons.

The last ordinary public consistory to create new cardinals took place on September 30, 2023. Among the new cardinals were Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem; Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong; and the Argentine Víctor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Who will be created cardinals this weekend?

Twenty-one men from around the world will “receive the red cap” and become cardinals at this weekend’s consistory.

Among them are Bishop Frank Leo, Archbishop of Toronto (Canada); Mons. Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi, SVD, Archbishop of Tokyo (Japan); Bishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu, OFM Conv, Archbishop of Tehran-Ispahan, Belgian missionary bishop in Iran; Fr. Fabio Baggio, CS, undersecretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development (Italy); Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, theologian from the United Kingdom; and Mons. Domenico Battaglia, Archbishop of Naples (Italy); who entered the list after a bishop in Indonesia declined to become a cardinal.

(A list along with an analysis of the spiritual motto and coat of arms of each cardinal-elect can be found at this link).

What exactly will happen in the town hall?

In addition to giving each new cardinal their cap, Pope Francis, at the December 7 liturgy in St. Peter’s Basilica, will place a ring on the hand of each of them and say: “Receive this ring from the hand of Peter and know that, with the love of the Prince of the Apostles, your love for the Church is strengthened.” They will also receive the formal decree (or papal bull) announcing their cardinal creation.

The purple biretta is, as the Pope will recite, a “sign of cardinal dignity, which means your willingness to act bravely, even to the shedding of your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, for the peace and tranquility of the people. of God and for the freedom and growth of the holy Roman Church.”

Immediately before, the new cardinals will make a profession of faith by reciting the Creed. They will then pronounce an oath of fidelity and obedience to the Pope and his successors.

The Pope will also assign each new cardinal a church in the diocese of Rome, called a “titular church.” This further links the cardinal with Rome and with the Pope, who is the bishop of the Eternal City.

Other members of the College of Cardinals, clergy, Catholics and the public can attend a consistory to create cardinals.

So how many cardinals will there be and why is it important?

In 1970, Pope Saint Paul VI established that cardinals over 80 years of age cannot participate in the process of electing a Pope. For this reason, cardinals under 80 years of age are known as “electors.”

Paul VI also established a numerical limit for the number of electors—120—although on occasions, as with this consistory, the number has exceeded that figure.

The number of cardinal electors in the college—and, indeed, the number of cardinals in general—changes constantly, as at any time cardinals may be celebrating their 80th birthday or may have died.

As of October of this year, 15 members of the College of Cardinals turned 80 after the last consistory, thus losing their chance to participate in a future papal election, according to the National Catholic Register.

After the December consistory, there will be 140 cardinal electors (barring the unexpected death of one of them), 110 of whom will have been appointed by Pope Francis.

Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has created 142 cardinals from 70 countries, in a total of nine consistories.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.