Pope appoints 31 cardinals

VATICAN CITY -- Amid concerns about his frail health, Pope John Paul II appointed 31 cardinals Sunday, acting months earlier than expected and strengthening his influence on the group that will choose his successor.\nThe new "princes" of the church include senior Vatican officials and diocesan leaders from 20 countries. They will receive their red hats at a ceremony known as a consistory on Oct. 21 -- a date chosen to coincide with the weeklong celebrations marking John Paul's 25th anniversary as pope.\nSeveral names mentioned in the Italian media as possible new cardinals weren't on the pope's list -- including Archbishop Sean O'Malley, who took over the Boston archdiocese to clean it up from the sex abuse scandal that rocked the American church.\nO'Malley didn't refer to the omission in a statement Sunday, instead congratulating the only American on the list, Justin Rigali, the archbishop elect of Philadelphia.\nThe 68-year-old Regali is a Los Angeles native who was previously archbishop of St. Louis. He is a conservative and has championed two of the pope's favorite causes -- publicly condemning abortion and the death penalty.\nSt. Louis Archdiocese Vicar General Monsignor Richard Stika described Rigali's reaction as "humble excitement."\n"He's a very humble man, a very prayerful man, and he's totally committed to the Gospel. I think this will bring a smile to his face, but he's a bishop, he's there for the people," Stika said, adding that Rigali was unavailable for comment.\nVatican officials had said no consistory was expected before the end of the year; February 2004 had been mentioned as a possible date, because the previous two consistories were held in that month.\nNo explanation was given for why the pope acted sooner. But Vatican officials said privately that with the College of Cardinals and heads of national bishops conferences already coming to Rome for the anniversary celebrations -- as well as the pope's declining health -- an October consistory seemed opportune.\nJohn Paul, who is 83 and suffers from Parkinson's disease, announced the new cardinals from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square. He read out the list with great difficulty, stopping to catch his breath several times before finishing each man's title.\nOne of the 31 on the list was unidentified, perhaps because he works in a country where the church is oppressed.\nMuch of Italy, including Vatican City, was without power on Sunday because of a blackout, but the Vatican managed to amplify the pope's remarks with a backup generator provided at the last moment by Italy's RAI state television.\nThe College of Cardinals is already mainly made up of like-minded conservatives reflecting John Paul's choices. The new batch will further cement the pope's influence on the choice of his successor and brings to at least 135 the number of people under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave.\nThe new cardinals include archbishops from Nigeria, France, Sudan, Spain, Scotland, Brazil, Ghana, India, Australia, Croatia, Vietnam, Guatemala, Hungary, Canada, Italy as well as Rigali from the United States.\nJohn Paul also named some top Vatican officials, including the French-born foreign minister Jean-Louis Tauran and prelates from Spain, Mexico, Japan and Italy who run other Vatican offices or commissions that traditionally come with a red hat.\nBy naming cardinals for Vietnam, Sudan and Nigeria, the pope appeared to be trying to strengthen the position of his leaders in countries where the Roman Catholic Church often has difficulties with government officials or there are Muslim-Christian conflicts.\nPerhaps the greatest surprise was the absence on the list of O'Malley, who replaced Cardinal Bernard Law as Boston archbishop after Law resigned in December amid public outcry over the sex scandal. O'Malley has been working quickly to settle lawsuits brought by victims of clerical abuse and to bring some normalcy back to the archdiocese.\nWhile there was no explanation for O'Malley's absence, one possible reason was that the pope was reluctant to name a cardinal from Boston while Law is still of voting age and serving on several Vatican commissions.\nHowever, there is precedent: The pope gave Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn his red hat in February 1998, while his predecessor, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, was still of voting age. Groer had been forced to relinquish his duties as Vienna Archbishop in April 1998 because of a sex scandal.\nThe Oct. 21 consistory will cap a busy week for the pope, who will preside over an evening Mass on Oct. 16 -- the anniversary of his election -- as well as the beatification of Mother Teresa three days later. In-between, he will have other public appearances and speeches, and now will preside over the lengthy consistory.\nThe pope suffers from hip and knee ailments, in addition to Parkinson's, which makes it almost impossible for him to walk. During his recent trip to Slovakia, he was unable to finish his speeches, and just this week had to miss his weekly Wednesday audience because of an intestinal problem.\nHe also has days when he appears stronger, including Saturday, when he seemed alert and relatively strong during a 20-minute meeting with the president of the Philippines and an evening Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.