Roman Catholics: Toned-Down Consistory

Once Roman Catholic cardinals, upon elevation to the title, humbly kissed the Pope's foot and afterwards lay prostrate before an altar while solemn prayers were said for them. Last week, when Paul VI presented 27 clerics with their red hats,* they swore their fealty standing up. The creation of a cardinal is still one of the world's most imposing religious ceremonies, but in the spirit of the Catholic aggiornamento Paul has made some measured simplifications.

His new ceremonial cut the number of consistories from four to two. It also abolished the quaint little ceremony in which the cardinals opened and closed their mouths, symbolizing their duty to advise the Pope and their obligation to keep secret what they told him. Instead of personally handing the cardinals their galeros—the broad-brimmed, tasseled red hat, symbolic of their role as princes of the church, which is never worn and is placed on the cardinal's tomb at his death—the Pope merely had the hats delivered to their residences.

The dramatic peak of the new ceremony was a solemn pontifical Mass concelebrated by the Pope and his new cardinals. It was, as Paul made clear, intended to symbolize the reality of episcopal collegiality—the idea, expressed by the Vatican Council's redefinition of the church, that bishops share ruling power with the Pope. In his address to the new cardinals, the Pope spoke of them as "our collaborators and advisers in guiding and governing the Holy Catholic Church."