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The consistory itself, when the pope officially creates, or invests, the new
cardinals, usually takes place in St. Peter’s Square. It is a Liturgy of the Word
service, not a Mass, meaning there is no eucharistic celebration. During the
consistory, each new cardinal kneels as the pope places a red, three-ridged
hat called a
biretta
on his head. The phrase “getting the red hat” as a descrip-
tion of becoming a cardinal now refers to this moment, although historically
it referred to the conferral of the
galero
, a broad-brimmed red hat with tassels
hanging from each side, that popes gave cardinals from 1245 until Pope Paul
VI suppressed the practice in 1969. In ecclesiastical heraldry cardinals may
still use the galero with tassels over their coat of arms to symbolize their rank,
but the pope no longer confers it when he makes a man a cardinal. While
bishops may wear purple hats and robes, red is reserved to cardinals to rep-
resent their dedication to the church “
usque ad effusionem sanguinis
”—to the
point of shedding their own blood.
Each new cardinal is assigned a “titular” church in Rome. While they
obviously are not expected there on Sundays to celebrate Mass and preach,
cardinals often pay a visit to their titular churches when they’re in town. The
titular churches make them titular clergy of Rome, hearkening back to an ear-
lier time when the chief electors of a new pope were the clergy of Rome, the
bishops of Rome’s neighboring dioceses, and a few close advisors in the papal
Curia. Eastern patriarchs in the College of Cardinals are not assigned a titular
church in Rome; and since they do not normally wear Latin-style vestments,
some Eastern-church leaders also may not receive a red biretta, or they may
receive a red version of their own style of headdress.
The day after the consistory, the pope concelebrates Mass with the new
cardinals, presenting each of them with a gold ring, another sign of their spe-
cial communion with the church of Rome.
Ahead of the consistory itself, the pope may meet with the College of
Cardinals and the cardinals-to-be in a closed-door assembly. Part of the meet-
ing often focuses on a particular theme, with time set aside for less structured
discussion. Check the
Bollettino
for whatever information the press office
releases.
An ordinary public consistory in which sainthood causes are formally
concluded typically involves only cardinals living in Rome. The meeting
establishes the date of the canonization Mass, at which the pope officially
declares the person a saint.
An extraordinary consistory involves all cardinals physically able to make
the trip to Rome. The pope calls such a meeting as a consultative session on
a specific topic. Among the six convened during Pope John Paul II’s pontifi-