The College of Cardinals is the body
consisting of all Cardinals in the Catholic Church. While their most well-known
duty is to elect a new pope after a vacancy in the Holy See, they also serve
the Church in other ways as well. They advise the Pope, attend various Church
functions such as canonization hearings, and even administer the Holy See
during a papal vacancy. While there are currently 220 Cardinals that have
publicly appointed, it’s possible there are many more, privately appointed,
unknown to anyone but the pope. This is thanks to a special power of the Pope
to make secret appointments to the College of Cardinals.
When a Pope privately appoints a person to the
College of Cardinals without revealing their name, the appointment is said to
be made "in pectore", Latin for “in the breast,” or “in the heart.”
This phrase is used to describe the appointment since only the Pope knows who
was appointed in his heart. While a Pope may make an "in pectore"
appointment for any reason, they are a relatively rare occurrence under
specific circumstances. Generally, "in pectore" appointments are
reserved for situations where a public announcement would endanger the person
and/or their community, such as living under a regime hostile to the Catholic
Faith. Their names are often published once they no longer face persecution or
danger.
The interesting thing about this practise is
that when a Cardinal is appointed "in pectore", often times they
aren’t even informed of their new status. If they are informed, they are unable
to function as a Cardinal until the appointment is made public. As already
mentioned, this right of the Pope is rarely exercised, usually in circumstances
where the pope wants to make a statement for later historians about the honour
due a particular cleric, while not wanting to endanger that same cleric in his
present circumstances of persecution. When made public, their seniority in the
College of Cardinals is determined from the point in time in which they were
appointed "in pectore", not when their appointment was made public.
However, if a Cardinal "in pectore" is not informed by the time of a
Pontiff’s passing, their cardinalate ceases to exist.
In the early history of the College of
Cardinals, the names of newly appointed Cardinals were traditionally made
public following their appointment. On December 22, 1536 this tradition changed
when Pope Paul III made the first ever "in pectore" appointment of
Girolamo Aleandro because his life would have been in danger if otherwise made
public. After the precedent appointment, Pope Pius IV 24 years later was the
first pope to appoint a Cardinal "in pectore" and subsequently not
publish their name during their papacy. Successive Supreme Pontiff’s generally
used "in pectore" assignments during times of political conflict.
During the French Revolution and the waves of
revolutions that occurred in Europe, "in pectore" assignments increased
drastically as a safety measure for those appointed. The most recent
appointments in pectore were made by Pope Saint John Paul II. Out of a total of
232 appointments, 4 were made in pectore. Three names were eventually
published, however, the fourth’s identity was not revealed by the late Pontiff
before his passing. As such, that person’s cardinalate expired. These four
appointments were:
• Ignatius Kung Pin-Mei, Bishop of Shanghai,
People’s Republic of China. Appointed 1979, revealed 1991, died 2000.
• Marian Jaworski, Archbishop of Lviv,
Ukraine. Appointed 1998, revealed 2001.
• Jānis Pujāts of Riga, Latvia. Appointed
cardinal 1998, revealed 2001.
• Unknown, appointed in 2003.
It is not known
whether or not Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI or Pope Francis have made any
"in pectore" appointments, however it is possible such appointments
do exist but were never made public.
Comments
Post a Comment