Tuesday, 28th March 2006 (4406 views)

At a special Mass on the steps of St Peter's Basilica yesterday, 15 new members were accepted into the Roman Catholic Church's College of Cardinals with a gold ring each.

The rings were all engraved with Pope Benedict XVI's papal seal, along with a crucifix, and were said to symbolise each of the new cardinals' renewed commitment to the church.

The design of the ring that inducts the new cardinals, whose duties will include advising the pontiff as well as electing his successor, changes from one papacy to another.

One of the initiated cardinals, Bostonian Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, told the Boston Herald that the consistory was "a beautiful moment".

"I am deeply humbled and honoured to be named a Cardinal by the Holy Father," he said.

Each prelate also wore gold vestments for the presentation in Rome, which fell on the Feast of the Annunciation- a celebration to commemorate the day Mary was told by an angel of God that she would bear a child.

 

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