ROME – Pope Francis yesterday created 20 new cardinals, including 16 under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote for the next pope. It was Francis’s eighth consistory, and whenever we get a new crop of Princes of the Church, several chronic misconceptions tend to head once more unto the breach.
Herewith, three conceptual mistakes to avoid in thinking about the men who wear the red.
It’s not about liberals v. conservatives
To begin with, there’s a natural tendency for Western handicappers to try to divide up the cardinals like they do everyone else, meaning in terms of where cardinals stand on the liberal/conservative divide.
This generally works fairly well for Americans and Europeans – it’s not wrong, for example, even if it’s a little reductive, to think that new Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego is to the left of the traditional center of gravity within the American bishops’ conference, or that new Cardinal Arthur Roche of the Vatican’s…
