VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (United Kingdom)
The Pope will appoint 22 new cardinals in a lavish ceremony at the Vatican on Saturday, against a backdrop of leaks, back-stabbing and jostling for power in the Holy See.
By Nick Squires, Rome
6:24PM GMT 17 Feb 2012
The new appointees will join an elite group of cardinals who will have the task of electing the next Pope on the death of Benedict XVI, who turns 85 in April.
Seven of the new “princes of the church” are Italian, making the prospect of the German Pope being succeeded by an Italian pontiff more likely, Vatican observers said.
Their election will increase to 67 the number of “elector cardinals” who are from Europe, against 22 from Latin America, 21 from Africa and Asia and 15 from North America.
Of the European cardinals, 30 will be Italian.
The appointments come after a torrid few weeks for the Holy See, with claims of corruption and nepotism, questions over the transparency of the Vatican bank and murky reports of an assassination plot within the next 12 months against Benedict.
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