In brief
Rabbis pray for the pope’s health
More than 40 rabbis, cardinals and Catholic bishops from all over the world prayed in silence, at the invitation of Rabbi Israel Singer, president of the World Congress of Jews. Between February 28 and March 1, in New York, they took part in the 2nd Judaeo-Catholic Symposium. Opening the symposium, Rabbi Singer asked the participants to pray, “each according to his own tradition, for the pope’s return to good health.” (see in the section, The Church throughout the world, the article on the 2nd Judaeo-Catholic Symposium in New York)
Number of electing cardinals stands today at 118
The Angolan Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, archbishop Emeritus of Luanda celebrated his 80th birthday on March 1. The number of cardinals who now qualify to vote in the next conclave is 118. The college of cardinals will have 117 electors on March 18 next, when the Ecuadorian Cardinal Antonio José Gonzales Zumarrago celebrates his birthday on that day. Three others will follow in the course of this year: in July, the Patriarch Emeritus of Venice, Marco Ce, and the Spaniard Francisco Alvarez Martinez, in August the Madagascan Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra, and in October, the Brazilian José Falcao Freire.
At present, the cardinals number 183 in total, of whom 118 are electors and 65 are over 80. There are 58 European cardinals, 20 of whom are Italian. The number of Latin-American cardinals stands at 22, those of North America 14 and from Africa 11. As for the cardinals of Asian and South Pacific, there are respectively 11 and 2 who are due to take part in a future conclave.
