The Hawk Will Never Die!

Archbishop Foley named cardinal by Pope

By David O’Reilly

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Pope Benedict XVI announced today that he will create 23 new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church next month, including Archbishop John P. Foley, a former priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Foley, who served 23 years as head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, was named in June as grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a papal knighthood of 18,000 members.

All the order's previous grand masters have been cardinals, and Foley's elevation to cardinal was widely predicted.

He will join one other American, Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, at the elevation ceremony November 24 at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Cardinal Justin Rigali, archbishop of Philadelphia, this morning hailed the appointment of the archdiocese's "native son," saying that he holds Foley in "high esteem" and that the appointment "unites the people of this Archdiocese more closely" with Pope Benedict.

Foley, who turns 72 next month, was born in Darby and grew up in Holy Spirit parish in Sharon Hill. He graduated from Saint Joseph's Preparatory School and was summa cum laude at Saint Joseph's College, where he was president of the student body.

Madeline Conti of Newtown, who was secretary to the then-dean of the college, the Rev. Matthew Sullivan, said she remembered the day in 1957 when Foley came to tell them he planned to enter the priesthood.

"And after John left, Father Sullivan turned to me and said, 'That young man will be a cardinal some day,' " said Conti, who said she was "thrilled" at his appointment.

Foley was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in 1962 and was soon posted to Rome, where he reported on the Second Vatican Council for the Catholic Standard & Times. Then-Cardinal John Krol later sent him to Columbia University's School of Journalism, where he earned a master's degree.

From 1970 to 1984 he served as editor of the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Standard& Times, and taught at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, before Krol recommended him to Pope John Paul II as head of the new Council for Social Communications at the Vatican.

He was consecrated an archbishop shortly after taking the new post, and at 48 was the youngest head of a papal office at the Vatican. When he stepped down from Social Communications in June, he was the longest-serving head of a papal office.

Eighteen of the 23 new cardinals will be under age 80 and eligible to vote for a new pope. Their elevations will bring to 120 the number of papal electors in the College of Cardinals, considered the standard number of electors.