POPE Benedict XVI has appointed the Catholic Archbishop of
Abuja, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. The elevation of
the former President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN),
came with those of five others namely: James Michael Harvey (United States),
Bechara Boutros Rahi (Lebanon), Baselios Cleemis (India), Reuben Salazar Gomez
(Columbia) and Luis Antonio Tagle (Philippines), making Onaiyekan the only
African amongst the six newly-appointed cardinals.
With his elevation,
Onaiyekan becomes the fourth Nigerian Cardinal after the late Dominic Cardinal
Ekandem, Francis Cardinal Arinze and Anthony Cardinal Okogie. He will be joining the College of Cardinals next month.
The Supreme Pontiff, 85, had yesterday, at the end of the weekly general audience, said in a surprise announcement that he would be appointing cardinals in a consistory on November 24, the second consistory to be held this year.
The appointment of the former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) means that the 68-year-old Prelate is now qualified under the Canon Law to be elected a Pope and also join other cardinals who are below the age of 80 in the election of a new Pope.
Onaiyekan, who is presently in Rome, said in a telephone interview that the elevation is a continuation of God’s goodness to him.
He said: “First and foremost, it is a continuation of God’s goodness to me. For so long, God has been good to me. So, it is God’s goodness. It means God’s free gift of grace and it is not as if one is receiving a reward for good action.
“Secondly, of course, I thank His Holiness, the Pope, because the Pope chooses his Cardinals according to his will. And I take it too as an encouragement to continue the good work, the work that we are trying to do in Abuja as an Archbishop and part of the bishops of Nigeria.
“I will do my best too, to assist the Pope because that is part of the job of a Cardinal to be a close assistant to the Pope in his difficult task of ruling the Church all over the world. In other words, the bottom line is, thanks be to God,” he said.
Archbishop Harvey is the American prefect of the papal household who was the direct superior of the Pope's former butler, Paolo Gabriele.
Gabriele was convicted October 6 of stealing the Pope's private papers and leaking them to a reporter in the greatest Vatican security breach in modern times.
Harvey will now become archpriest of a Roman Basilica.
The Vatican spokesman denied he was being removed because of the scandal.
With the new cardinals, there will be 120 cardinals under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Europe still has the most, with 62. But with the new additions, the College of Cardinals is a tad more multinational: Latin America will have 21, North America 14, Africa 11, Asia 11 and Oceana one.
Harvey, a native of Milwaukee, became prefect of the papal household in 1998 after serving for less than a year as a top administrator, the assessor, in the Vatican's secretariat of state. His office organises the Pope's schedule, and one of his most visible duties was to escort visiting dignitaries through the Apostolic Palace to the Pope's library.
Gabriele, 46, worked as an usher in the Vatican's secretariat of state before coming to work for Harvey.
In 2006, Gabriele was named Benedict's butler, replacing Pope John Paul II's longtime butler, Angelo Gugel.
In announcing the new cardinals, Benedict said he was naming Harvey, 63, archpriest of St. Paul's Outside the Walls, one of the Vatican's basilicas in Southern Rome.
Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied any connection between the leaks scandal and Harvey's new posting, saying it was "more than normal" that after 14 years as prefect, Harvey would be named a cardinal.
That said, Harvey's predecessor, Cardinal Dino Monduzzi, retired as prefect after reaching 75 and was named a cardinal.
Harvey, 63, is well shy of the normal retirement age for bishops.
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