By Marta Lago
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 27, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Courtesy visits to the 23 new cardinals were characterized by warm embraces from the ecclesial community, represented by people of every age and condition, including those who have worn the red hat for years.
Families, friends, bishops, priests, religious and numerous members of the College of Cardinals filled the halls of the Vatican for a few hours after Saturday's consistory where men from 14 countries received the red hat.
Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of Prague, who received his red hat in 1994, joined the visitors and awaited his turn to greet the new cardinals. He spoke to ZENIT about the “beautiful event” that the universal Church had just lived.
"The cardinals have come from the entire world: One could say that the Pope increased his 'council' of collaborators, and this is a lovely symbol in this world” because the Church governs “with the brothers,” he emphasized.
“I found the Holy Father always content, smiling,” Cardinal Vlk said, recalling Friday’s day of reflection with the Pope, and the consistory itself. "It has been a joyous ceremony; everyone was glad to meet each other. It has been beautiful, beautiful …"
Trembling hearts
Each of the 23 new cardinals was given a place to receive his visitors in the Vatican. In a festive atmosphere, large groups and lines of friends waited to offer courtesy gifts, flowers, and above all their congratulations and an embrace.
Newly elevated Cardinal Agustín García-Gasco described to ZENIT his excitement: “I am very happy, thinking also that [my elevation] has been a great gift for Valencia,” where he is archbishop. That Spanish archdiocese hosted Benedict XVI last year on the occasion of the 5th World Meeting of Families.
Newly elevated Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the Polish president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, said that heaccepted the honor “above all with a feeling of enormous gratitude toward the Pope for this new sign of trust," he said.
“I have accepted this appointment with joy, but with a trembling heart too, because I realize that it is a gift and a challenge at the same time,” he told ZENIT. “And I ask the Lord to grant me the strength to not disappoint, above all Jesus, but also the Holy Father.”
The Pope also gave the red hat to a Jesuit priest, Urbano Navarrete, former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University.. On Saturday, the emotions were described as many and intense, but the new Spanish cardinal related to ZENIT one feeling in particular: “When I was prostrate before the Roman Pontiff the only thing that I said to him was, 'Thank you for the trust that you have placed in me.'"
Cardinal Navarrete added: “In my heart there was also the idea that it is not only the trust that has been placed in me personally, but also the confidence that it implies in the institution in which I have worked all my life, which is the Gregorian University, and in a certain sense as well, in the Society of Jesus, where I have been since my youth."
In the middle of the bustle, in the atrium of Paul VI Hall, he spoke about another element of the experience: “The number of people I know, more from Rome that from other place, who came spontaneously to greet me -- also from the pastoral realm, because for 44 years I have dedicated every Sunday morning in Rome to hearing confessions, without missing a day, unless for health reasons."
And now that he is a cardinal, the Jesuit wishes to continue the ministry of confession -- "because it is to be present in direct contact with the people of God."
ZE07112709 - 2007-11-27
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-21130?l=english
Church Embraces New Cardinals
Courtesy Visits Show Affection of Multitudes
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