VATICAN CITY: Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila and five other non-European Roman Catholic prelates will join the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in November, Pope Benedict XVI said on Wednesday.

At the end of his weekly general audience, the Pope said that he would be appointing Tagle, American James Michael Harvey, Lebanese Bechara Boutros Rahi, Indian Baselios Cleemis, Nigerian John Onaiyekan, and Colombian Ruben Salazar Gomez as cardinals in a surprise consistory, the second to be held this year.

The college, the elite body that advises the pontiff and elects his successor upon his death, is currently heavily weighted in favor of Europe.

The announcement follows the death of several cardinals in recent months and will bring the number of those eligible to vote back up to the maximum of 120. Cardinals must be younger than 80 to take part in a papal election.

Religious watchers had not expected there to be another consistory until next year. In February, 22 new “princes of the Church” were created amid criticism at the number of Europeans and poor representation from elsewhere.

While nearly half of the world’s Catholics are in Latin America, there was only one new cardinal appointed from “the Catholic continent.”

The nominations sparked rumors of a power struggle at the heart of the Vatican, with some observers saying that Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone was behind the promotion of Italians up the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy.

Youngest
Tagle, head of the Philippines’ largest archdiocese, will be the country’s seventh cardinal joining the line of retired Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales of Manila and Ricardo Cardinal Vidal of Cebu.

At 55, he will be the world’s youngest cardinal. The oldest living cardinal, following the death of Cardinal Mayer in 2010, is Ersilio Tonini, 98, the Archbishop Emeritus of Ravenna-Cervia.

During the general audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope announced that he will hold a consistory on November 24 to formally elevate the six new cardinals.

“The Cardinals have the task of helping the Successor of Peter in the performance of his ministry of confirming the brethren in the faith, and the principle and foundation of unity and communion of the Church,” the Pope said.

Other Filipino cardinals who already passed away include Rufino Cardinal Santos, Julio Cardinal Rosales, Jaime Cardinal Sin and Jose Cardinal Sanchez.

Tagle and other Filipino bishops are currently in Rome for the ongoing Synod of Bishops for New Evangelization.

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking just below the Pope.

The duties of the cardinals are to attend the meetings of the Sacred College and to make themselves available individually if the pope desires their counsel.

Cardinals also have additional duties either leading many of the church’s dioceses and archdioceses or running the Roman Curia.

The most important function of Cardinals in the Church is to elect the Roman Pontiff who usually comes from their rank.

Tagle was appointed as the 32nd archbishop of Manila in December, succeeding Rosales.

Born in Manila on June 21, 1957, Tagle took his Philosophy and Theology at the Ateneo De Manila University’s San Jose Major Seminary.

According to the website of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Tagle was ordained to the priesthood on February 27, 1982, at the age of 25.

From 1985 to 1992, he was sent for further studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. where he earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology.

Since 1997, Tagle has been a member of the International Theological Commission of the Vatican. In 1998, he was as an expert at the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Asia that took place in Rome.

On December 12, 2001, he was ordained Bishop of Imus. Since then, he has been engaged in many activities. He travels throughout the country in answer to many invitations as a speaker.

At the Synod of Bishops held in Rome in 2005, he was elected member of the post-synodal Council and assistant to Cardinal Angelo Scola, general reporter of this Synod.

Tagle is currently the chairman of the Commission on Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.