Dear Rev. Know-It-All,

What is a Cardinal?

Thank you,

Isidore Dunne

Let me first assume that you are not referring to the red bird or the baseball player.  Second, let me assume that you missed reading the Q&A in the Sunday Bulletin on October 8, 2006 (we are now in the process of putting all the Q&As online).  Assuming that my assumptions are correct, I will re-state my answer with a slightly elaboration.

In brief, a Cardinal is the pastor of one of the cardinal (main) churches in Rome.

Well, you may say, how can Francis Cardinal George be a cardinal?  He is the bishop of Chicago.

Let me explain. 

The Pope is the bishop of Rome.  Well, how come he gets to run the whole Catholic enchilada? (Enchilada” here means “church”)  Simple, if you happen to believe all this stuff which I most certainly do, though I know a lot liberal types who find this line of reasoning irritating, but they are a pretty irritated lot in general.  Where was I?  Oh, yes The Bishop of Rome. 

The bishop of Rome sits on the chair of Peter to whom were given the keys of the kingdom.  Scott Hahn does a wonderful treatment of this.  The keys of the kingdom given to Peter hearken back to the keys of the house of David given to Shebna in the Old Testament. The keys of the house of David were held by Vizier, the prime minister if you will, of the kingdom.  It was a clearly continuous task and was, in most cases, hereditary. 

Jesus clearly intended to establish a continuous leadership in the church: the role of Peter, or Cephas as St. Paul calls him, the Rock. 

The question is, how to choose the new rock when the old rock has died. 

The early church was big on succession, one bishop following another.  Very early on, the successor of Peter, the bishop of Rome was regarded as the new rock, the new Peter.  We see the bishop of Rome intervening in a dispute in Corinth at the end of the first century when John the apostle was still alive.  We see the bishop of Rome making decisions about the liturgical calendar and the sacrament of penance around 200 AD.  I believe the idea that the bishop of Rome had universal influence really does go back to the first days. 

Well, what about your question, what is a cardinal? 

The role of the bishop of Rome is a pretty important one, so how to choose the bishop of Rome is an important question.  Reasonably, when the church was small the people and the clergy of a diocese chose their bishop with prayer and discernment in conjunction with the neighboring bishops who would ordain the candidate.  During this era, there were thought to be certain clerical assignments, tasks and pastorates in the diocese of Rome that were done by special, or cardinal priests or bishops (cardo being the Latin word for "hinge").

Things tend to get out of hand when people mistake discernment for democracy and the election of the popes was getting too political, so in 1059, the pope limited the electors of the bishop of Rome (that is, the pope) to the cardinal priests and bishops. 

To this day, the honor of being electors of the pope is conferred on certain people who are made honorary pastors of the cardinal or “hinge” churches of Rome.  As the church became more international, this honor was conferred on bishops and occasionally priests in different countries so the election of the pope would reflect the universal nature of the church. 

SO HERE IS THE SIMPLE ANSWER: 

A CARDINAL IS AN HONORARY PASTOR OF A PARISH IN ROME WHO, IF HE IS UNDER 80 YEARS OLD, ELECTS THE NEW POPE.

Rev. Know-It-All
 

PS - In my prior answer on 10-08-06, I cited the case where the Jesuit priest, Fr. Avery Dulles, was created a Cardinal on February 21, 2001 by Pope John Paul II.  At the time of his elevation to Cardinal, he was not a bishop as is normally the case, but still only a priest. 

Here are some Fun Facts about Avery Cardinal Dulles that I did NOT mention:

FACT:  Fr. Avery Dulles successfully petitioned the Pope for a dispensation from episcopal consecration due to advanced age (he was 82 years old when he was made a Cardinal), so unlike almost every other cardinal, Fr. Dulles is not a bishop.

FACT:  He is the first US theologian to be named cardinal directly, without having had pastoral responsibility.  This distinguished Catholic theologian is the author of 21 books and 650 articles and essays, the majority theological, he has taught at more than 15 universities and colleges.

FACT:  Because Cardinal Dulles (born 1918) was over the age of 80, he was too old to vote in 2005 conclave that elected the new pope, Pope Benedict XVI.

FACT:  He is the son of former US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, the nephew of Allen Welsh Dulles (founding administrator of the CIA), great-grandson of John Watson Foster, also a former US Secretary of State, and great-grandson of Theodore Medad Pomeroy, a speaker of the US House of Representatives.

FACT:  After graduating from Harvard, he served in intelligence in the Naval Reserve and was decorated with the "Croix de Guerre" in 1945 for his work with the French Navy. Later in 1945, he contracted polio in Italy. He joined the Jesuits in 1946.  He was ordained a priest for the Jesuits in 1956 by Cardinal Francis Spellman, Archbishop of New York.

And, here's the best one.........

FACT:  Cardinal Dulles was raised a Presbyterian but had become an agnostic by the time he began college at Harvard in 1936.  His religious doubts were diminished during a personally profound moment when he stepped out into a rainy day and saw a tree beginning to flower along the Charles River; after that moment he never again "doubted the existence of an all-good and omnipotent God".  He noted how his theism turned toward conversion to Catholicism: "The more I examined, the more I was impressed with the consistency and sublimity of Catholic doctrine."  He converted to Catholicism in 1940.
 

Editorial Note:
there was also a prior Q&A
What is a Cardinal?
published on Oct. 8, 2006