2006 Consistory | Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Earlier today, reports began emerging that the much talked about November 20th Consistory will be announced at Pope Benedict XVI’s General Audience this coming Wednesday. It’s about time; I was beginning to think no 2010 consistory would ever be announced.

While U.S. Catholics had been hoping for a surprisingly high number of new American princes, only two names seem to be getting the nod: Archbishop Raymond Burke and Archbishop Donald Wuerl. According to our favorite Catholic whisperer, Italian nominees are said to “comprise almost half of the open voting-age spots.”

With the conferring of this new batch of scarlet hats, Benedict will have named a majority of the current voting age cardinals.

On a personal note, if this all pans out, this will be the first time that I will cover a Vatican consistory. Needless to say, it is going to be a tremendous learning experience for me. In fact, the past few months have been new experiences for me and I have already learned quite a bit.

I am positive that I have made mistakes; I am human, what can I say? I thank you all for providing me with the opportunity to learn a lot about my faith and for facilitating an increase in my love for the church. I appreciate it more than you know.

That being said, it’s going to be an interesting end to the year. Let’s travel the road together, shall we?

Papal Emblem

I apologize for the lack of posts over the last few days. There is not much ecclesial news happening around these parts. When the Pope goes on vacation for the summer the Catholic news cycle slows down quite dramatically.

The most interesting tid-bit that has emerged within the last week is the Vatican’s release of modifications to the norms on grave crimes against the church. The official notice from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated:

[T]he Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith…held it necessary to proceed with a reform of the [Normae de gravioribus delictis], emending it not in its entirety, but only in certain areas, in order to render the text more useful.

The most significant adjustments within the document come in response to two particular offenses: the molestation of minors by priests and the ordination of women.