And had there been a conclave from that point forward, he would have been the one to announce the new pope to the world.īut that changed this week when Francis "elevated" Sarah and seven other cardinal deacons to the rank of cardinal priests. He became the most senior cardinal deacon with voting rights on May 19, 2018.
Most recently it fell to Cardinal Robert Sarah, the retired prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship. This role-in-waiting, as it were, thus passed to various cardinals who were still under the age of 80. Giuseppe Bertello, the new cardinal-elector Protodeacon If two cardinals of the same order were created on the same day, the first of the two whose creation as cardinal was announced by the pope comes first.Ĭurrently, the most senior cardinal in the order of deacons, which is known as the "Protodeacon", is Renato Martino, former president of the now-defunct Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.īut when Cardinal Martino lost his voting rights in 2012 as he turned 80, he could no longer fulfill the duties of the Protodeacon during a conclave. Within each category, precedence is determined by the date on which the cardinal received his red hat. These orders define rank and protocol within the College of Cardinals.Ĭardinal bishops come first, followed by cardinal patriarchs, then cardinal priests and finally cardinal deacons. There is also a somewhat separate order, that of the cardinal patriarchs. The Church's cardinals are grouped into three distinct orders: deacons, priests and bishops.
"The senior cardinal deacon announces to the waiting people that the election has taken place and proclaims the name of the new pope, who immediately thereafter imparts the apostolic blessing Urbi et Orbi from the balcony of the Vatican Basilica," says Universi Dominici gregis, the 1996 apostolic constitution "on the vacancy of the Apostolic See and the election of the Roman Pontiff".Īt the last conclave, which elected Pope Francis in 2013, it was the late French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran who made the announcement. Peter's Basilica, announces to those gathered in the square below and to people throughout the world the name of the man the cardinals have just elected to be the next Bishop of Rome and chief pastor of the Universal Church.Īnd the person who makes that announcement is a senior member in the rank of cardinal-deacons. That famous phrase, proclaimed from the central loggia of St.
"I announce to you a great joy: we have a pope!" At the conclusion of every conclave, it is the most eagerly awaited announcement: "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus papam!"
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