cardinal

1. RC Church any of the members of the Sacred College, ranking next after the pope, who elect the pope and act as his chief counsellors

2. a deep vivid red colour

3. See cardinal number

4. a crested North American bunting, Richmondena (or Pyrrhuloxia) cardinalis, the male of which has a bright red plumage and the female a brown one

5. a fritillary butterfly, Pandoriana pandora, found in meadows of southern Europe

6. of a deep vivid red colour

7. Astrology of or relating to the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cardinal

in the Catholic Church the highest member of the clergy after the pope.

Cardinals are the closest advisers and assistants to the pope in matters of church administration; they form the College of Cardinals, headed by a dean. Cardinals are appointed by the pope. The pope himself is elected exclusively by the College of Cardinals according to a decree of the Lateran Council of 1179. In 1586, Pope Sixtus V established that the number of the cardinals should not exceed 70. Up to the middle of the 20th century, Italians predominated in the College of Cardinals. The number of cardinals in the college was increased by Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, and by October 1969 the College of Cardinals consisted of 131 members, as well as bishops from Asian and African countries.

The cardinals living in Rome (cardinals of the Curia) head the central organs of the Vatican, including the congregations and the tribunals. The cardinals are divided hierarchically into three groups—cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons. According to the decision of Pope Paul VI in 1970, cardinals who reach the age of 75 retire but retain their cloth; when they reach the age of 80, they remain members of the college but lose the right to belong to the Roman Curia and to participate in the election of a new pope.

Cardinal

(Cardinalis cardinalis), a bird of the family Fringil-lidae, order Passeriformes. Body length, approximately 20 cm. The male’s feathers are bright red (the color of a cardinal’s mantle). The base of the bill is black. The female is brown.

The cardinal is found in the USA (naturally in the east; introduced to California and the Hawaiian Islands), Mexico, and northern Central America. It dwells in forests, gardens, and parks, feeding on seeds and insects. It lays a clutch of three to four eggs, which the female alone incubates for 12–13 days.

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References in periodicals archive

The employment of judges-delegate was a cost-and time-saving mechanism, but its importance for the papacy and the cardinalate is easily overlooked.

<>: the Legations of Gregory, Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Angelo (1192-4/1196-7)

Cruz said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle and Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who succeeded Rosales and former Cardinal Ricardo Vidal, respectively, could be headed for the cardinalate next year.

Roman Catholic conclave has no Filipino cardinal for now

The events surrounding Archbishop Pell's elevation to the cardinalate commenced with a Mass celebrated by the Archbishop for his party at the Basilica of S.

George Cardinal Pell: creation of the seventh Cardinal of the Australian Church

(4) Letter to the Archbishop of Birmingham for the centenary of the elevation to the Cardinalate of John Henry Newman, 7 April 1979, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/letters/1979/index.htm, consulta: 26 March 2009.

Newman and Twentieth-Century French Theology. The presence of J. H. Newman in Y. M. Congar, H. de Lubac y J. Danielou

traces the origin of the cardinalate to the twelfth century and thus the gradual growth of the conclave or elective process whereby the princes of the Church selected the new Bishop of Rome amid the political intrigue and ecclesial rivalries that characterized the papacy of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The Next Pope: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Forces That Will Choose the Successor to John Paul II and Decide the Future of the Catholic Church

4 interview with the German daily Die Welt, stressing in particular that Francis could include women in leadership without ordaining them deacons, by deciding the cardinalate "should be open to women and not only to ordained men."

Members of Francis' women deacons commission express diverse views

In this century Pope Paul VI expressed regret that he would not live to see Newman beatified and described his significance as "an ever brighter beacon for all who are seeking an informed orientation and sure guidance amid the uncertainties of the modern world--a world which he himself prophetically foresaw." John Paul II, while visiting England in 1979, noted the centenary of Newman's elevation to the cardinalate:

The importance of John Henry Newman

Further, it should be noted that John Henry Newman was raised to the cardinalate, but not to the episcopacy (22).

American Catholic Lay Groups and Transatlantic Social Reform in the Progressive Era

Public disagreement with Dollinger and energetic defense of the First Vatican Council may explain his promotion to the cardinalate in 1879.

Herman Schell and the reform of the Catholic Church in Germany