December 13, 2024 | 4:39pm
MANILA, Philippines — Vatican journalists recently launched a new website profiling the cardinals of the Catholic Church ahead of a next papal conclave.
Veteran Vatican journalists Vatican Edward Pentin and Diane Montagna, led an international team of Catholic journalists and researchers in setting up “The College of Cardinals Report,” an interactive website providing in-depth profiles of 40 cardinals including the cleric’s stand on various issues.
Summary profiles of the remaining 200-plus members of the College of Cardinals, including the 21 new cardinals created last week, are part of a project backed by the Sophia Institute Press and Cardinalis magazine, a French Catholic publication.
Pentin called the project a “a fact-based and reliably sourced database of information on the largest and most diverse College of Cardinals in the Church’s history.”
“The project aims to be a lasting resource for members of the Sacred College, and to inform the media and anyone interested in who could one day be pope,” Pentin and Montagna said in a statement.
The site was created in response to requests from cardinals and many others around the world who want to learn more about the current cardinals of the Catholic Church, especially those considered “papabile”—strong contenders to become the 267th Successor of Saint Peter.
“We’re confident that, while such research will always required updating and refinement, the cardinals will find this a helpful and lasting resource,” Montagna said.
“We also believe ‘The College of Cardinals Report’ will aid media professionals, the Catholic faithful and the public at large, helping them get to know these key Church figures who have such a significant moral impact on society,” he added.
Pentin and Montagna pointed out the irony that in the “globalized, information age, the cardinals have so little knowledge of one another, and yet such a project has precedent” centuries ago, diplomats and other trusted scribes would compile in-depth and reliable biographies of the cardinals and distribute them to interested parties.”
Both added that many of the recently created cardinals by Pope Francis are less well-known given that the Pope has chosen them from “periphery” locations.
They also noted how since 2014, Pope Francis has ceased holding regular consistories – a meeting of the entire college of cardinals where the Pope consults the cardinals on pressing issues of the Church and the world – diminishing the occasion where all cardinals can meet one another in person.
“The College of Cardinals Report” featured 40 cardinals in-depth, featuring their biographical data, a summary of their careers and their stand of doctrinal, moral and political issues.
A color-coded table shows where each cardinal stands on ten key contemporary issues facing the Catholic Church and society. Each cardinal’s position is marked with a check to indicate support, an “X” for opposition, or a bi-directional arrow for an ambiguous stance. Each ranking includes links to articles that provide evidence of the cardinal’s statements on the issue.
One of the papabile featured on the site’s homepage is Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former archbishop of Manila and current pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization.
Tagle’s stance on various issues, such as women deacons, blessings for same-sex couples, optional priestly celibacy, the restriction of the Traditional Latin Mass, the Vatican-China Secret Accords, climate change, and others, is also included.
There are 253 cardinals in the Catholic Church at present, 140 are below the voting age limit of 80.
Out of the 253, 149 have been created by Pope Francis, 63 by Pope Benedict XVI and 41 by St. John Paul II. 100 belong are diocesan clergy, 37 are working in the Vatican, 114 are emeritus arch/bishops and 2 are major superiors. Cardinals can be located using an interactive map of the world
Other living Filipino cardinals – Jose Advincula, Pablo Virgilio David, Orlando Quevedo and Gaudencio Rosales – are also featured in the site.
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