Unusually, in light of recent trends at consistories, quite a number of the men elevated to the College of Cardinals on this occasion are Italian. Of the 23, 13 are from Europe with six of those from Italy. Many of the latter are part of the Curia at the Vatican. Of the remainder, four are from Latin America, two are from North America, two from Africa, and two from Asia.
Cardinal John Njue of Kenya (63) is unusual in that he was appointed Archbishop of Nairobi just 10 days before it was announced he was being made a cardinal. President of Kenya's Bishops' Conference, his new diocese has grown from 170,000 Catholics in 1970 to 1.2 million today.
Cardinal Pedro Scherer (58), Archbishop of Sao Paolo since March last, was the youngest man to be elevated to the College of Cardinals in this consistory. Just six of the College, including the new cardinals, are under 60. Its average age now is 70.
Sao Paolo is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in the world, with eight million Catholics. He succeeds Cardinal Hummes, who was believed to be a contender at the conclave which elected Pope Benedict in 2005.
Cardinal André Vingt-Trois (70) is Archbishop of Paris and sometimes irreverently referred to as 23 or 'Andrew XXIII'. He succeeded the late Cardinal Lustiger in February 2005, and is president of France's Bishops' Conference.
Cardinal Urbano Cortes Navarrette (87), a Jesuit and former rector of Rome's Gregorian University, was the oldest man to become a cardinal at the weekend. Cardinal Oswald Gracias (62) is Archbishop of Bombay in India since October of last year.
He has a strong reputation for defending human rights and has spoken out on religious freedom at a time when non-Hindus have come under attack in parts of India.
