Tomorrow, February 18, 22 new cardinals will be created by the Bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI. It will be an occasion to introduce this event in the prayer of the Church through a ceremony in which some modifications have been made to position of the competent organism, which is the Office for the liturgical celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff.

Already in April 1969, as a result of the reinstatement resulting from Vatican II, some changes were made to the previous consistorial ceremony. At present, the ceremony has three consecutive moments: imposition of the biretta, submission of the cardinal's ring and assignment of the degree scroll or deaconry. These moments are now combined because the difference between the public and private Consistory has disappeared. Some of the prayers have undergone modifications, and the proclamation of the Gospel has been shortened; now a passage from St. Mark is read: the ascent of Jesus to Jerusalem to submit his life (10:32-45). The tradition of the Pope celebrating the Holy Eucharist the day after the Consistory with the new cardinals continues.

It is important to emphasize that this ceremony does not constitute a liturgical celebration in the strict sense. Rather, it is a matter of situating within the context of prayer - as a context proper to the Church - a significant event such as the creation of new cardinals. In this way we avoid presenting elements or aspects that could suggest the idea of a "sacrament of the Cardinalate". This idea is meaningless, since the high school of the Cardinals, within its canonical rationality, well proven throughout its history, is an institution of ecclesiastical law without a sacramental basis that would make it susceptible of being celebrated. In fact, the Apostolic Constitution Dominici gregis of 1996 abandons the expression "sacro high school" when dealing with the "high school of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church". Originally, the high school of Cardinals constituted a qualified presbyteral committee of the Urbe with advisory functions to the Bishop of Rome in the exercise of his pastoral ministry. Today, without losing that origin, the attendance has a more universal character.