papal consistory

The term consistory comes from the {{langx|la|con-sistere}}; "stand together".[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04285a.htm Papal Consistory] by Kevin Knight (Catholic Encyclopedia, 2009) Early popes conferred with their Roman presbytery which included the deacons appointed to oversee different parts of Rome. This tradition continued as deacons were replaced with cardinals and those cardinals (from among whom the pope was chosen) continued to meet at the request of successive popes.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}

Consistories became an opportunity for the pope to decide matters of state and dispense justice directly, with the support and advice of Roman bishops and those bishops from other regions who happened to be in Rome. Pope Leo IV ordered that consistories be held twice weekly. Pope John VIII relaxed that edict slightly and an order of twice-monthly consistories. With the Gregorian Reform, the Church limited outside influences on the papacy and the selection of popes, and the power of cardinals increased. Tradition developed that the pope would use consistories (closer to twice-yearly by the 17th century) to reveal a list of those that were to be elevated to the rank of cardinal.{{Cn|date=July 2021}}

Eventually, responsibility for matters of justice was transferred to the Roman Rota and the functions of the Church were transferred to the Roman Curia reducing the need for regular consistories. Subsequently, consistories became primarily ceremonial in function.

Since 2016, Pope Francis summoned fewer consistories of all cardinals than some of his papal predecessors had done. Disquiet over the lack of consistories was due to their being one of the few official occasions for future members of a papal conclave to meet and get to know each other.{{Cite web|language=it|url=https://lanuovabq.it/it/il-sacro-collegio-a-portata-di-clic|title=Il sacro collegio a portata di clic|website=lanuovabq.it|access-date=2025-01-30}}

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File:Emilio orfini da foligno e andrea di niccolò da Viterbo, medaglia del concistoro di papa paolo II, 1466-1467.JPG (c. 1466 or 1467)]]

At a consistory for the creation of cardinals, the pope creates new cardinals in the presence of a number of, if not all, extant cardinals. Though the names of the new cardinals have typically been announced in advance, they only formally become cardinals at the consistory, when the pope formally publishes the decree of elevation, even if the new cardinal is not present.{{efn|For example, Bishop John Fisher was imprisoned by King Henry VIII on 26 April 1534. A year later, in May 1535, Pope Paul III created Fisher a cardinal. King Henry, however, forbade the bringing of the cardinal's hat into England, declaring that he would send the cardinal's head to Rome instead. Cardinal Fisher was beheaded a month later on 22 June.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}}}

New cardinals present are presented with their rings, zucchetto (small skullcaps), and biretta (four-cornered silk hats) by the pope.{{efn|Formerly they also received an elaborate broad-brimmed tasseled hat, the galerum rubrum, at the ceremony, but Pope Paul VI abolished this in 1967 and those cardinals who want these obtain them privately from a maker in Rome.}}

The zucchetto and the biretta are scarlet, the distinctive color of cardinals' vesture.

At the consistory, new cardinals, with certain exceptions, are assigned titular churches in the Diocese of Rome.{{efn|Pope Paul VI abolished their functional involvement in the governance of these churches; the cardinals formally "take possession" of these churches at a later date.}}

Benedict used a consistory on 11 February 2013 to announce, in Latin, that he would retire as pope effective 28 February 2013.

Pope Benedict XVI created cardinals at five consistories, with the last before he resigned held in November 2012.{{cite news |url=https://www.oursundayvisitor.com/a-numerical-look-at-the-legacy-of-pope-benedict/ |agency=Our Sunday Visitor |access-date=26 April 2023 |date=31 December 2022 |first=Paul |last=Senz |title=A numerical look at the legacy of Pope Benedict}} In 2007 and 2010, he held day-long meetings with the entire College, the cardinals designate, and various advisers, on the day preceding the consistory of creation.

Pope Francis followed this custom for his first two consistories.{{cite news | work= America | url = https://www.americamagazine.org/content/all-things/thomas-reese-consistory | access-date = 28 May 2018 | date= 14 November 2010 | title = Thomas Reese on the Consistory | first = Thomas J. | last = Reese SJ }} His 2014 consistory for creating new cardinals was preceded by an extraordinary consistory where Cardinal Walter Kasper gave an address designed to launch the discussions of the Synod on the Family held later in the year. In 2015 a similar extraordinary consistory—held immediately prior to a consistory to create cardinals—discussed reform of the Roman Curia.{{cite news | url = https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/34949/so-what-is-a-consistory-anyway | agency = Catholic News Agency | access-date = 26 May 2018 | date= 18 November 2016 | first = Andrea |last= Gagliarducci | title = So what is a consistory, anyway?}} Francis created cardinals at ten consistories at roughly annual intervals, with the last in December 2024, a few months before his death.{{cite news | url = https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/pope-francis-exhorts-san-diegos-mcelroy-new-cardinals-practice-unassuming-power | agency = National Catholic Reporter | access-date = 26 April 2023 | date = 27 August 2022 | first = Christopher | last = White | title = Pope Francis exhorts San Diego's McElroy, new cardinals to practice 'unassuming power'}}

• List of the creations of the cardinals
• In pectore, a way of creating a cardinal without public announcement

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

;Additional sources

• [https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2012/documents/ns_lit_doc_20120218_concistoro_en.html Guido Marini, "Modifications to the Rite Approved by Benedict XVI: A Consistory between Tradition and Innovation", Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff], Retrieved 31 August 2017

{{commons category|Papal consistories}}

• {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Consistory |short=x}}
• {{cite web | url = http://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/consistories-xx.htm#JohnPaulII | title = Roman Catholic Consistories for the creation of Cardinals form 1903 to 2005 | website = wedept.fiu.edu | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180222224109/http://webdept.fiu.edu/~mirandas/consistories-xx.htm | archive-date = 22 February 2018 | url-status = live}}{{Self-published source|date=September 2018}}

{{College of Cardinals}}

{{Papacy}}

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