THE NEW CARDINALS

The consistories at which Pope John XXIII elevates 23 prelates to the College of Cardinals this week are an elaborate series of ceremonies taking place over a four-day period. First comes a secret consistory at which the Pope recites to the old cardinals the names of those he proposes to elevate. The cardinals nod their assent. Immediately, messengers fan out to deliver the biglietto--the letter informing each cardinal-elect of his elevation (tradition demands that he feign surprise on receiving the letter). Two days later the new cardinals join the Pope at an "intimate" consistory, during which he hands each one the scarlet biretta. Then comes a public consistory, at which old and new cardinals mingle and the Pope presents the galero--the round, flat red hat which is the traditional symbol of the cardinalate. Last of all is another secret consistory, at which the new cardinals get their rings and are assigned their titular churches.

Of the 23 new cardinals, 13 are Italian. Of these, all but three hold posts either in the Curia, the church's central administration, or in the Vatican diplomatic service. Of the non-Italians, only one (France's Andre Jullien) is a Curia member; the rest are "pastoral" cardinals, i.e., in charge of their own sees.

DIPLOMATS

Domenico Tardini, 70, is the most important man at the Vatican after the Pope. As Secretary of State, he is a combination of prime minister and foreign secretary--a field he has been thoroughly familiar with as Pius XII's Pro-Secretary of State for Extraordinary Affairs. He is a jovial lover of art and music, with a Vatican reputation for caustic wit. His hobby: Villa Nazareth, an orphanage for boys, which he founded.

Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, 75, born to a poor peasant family in the north Italian town of Brisighella, served as a young priest in the Curia, became an expert on canon law. Named apostolic delegate to the U.S. hierarchy in 1933 and stationed in Washington, he has served since then as unofficial diplomatic contact between the Vatican and the U.S. Government. In appointing him cardinal, Pope John made a rare exception to the rule that close relatives are not to be members of the College of Cardinals at the same time: Cicognani's brother Gaetano (two years older) has been a cardinal since 1953.

Fernando Cento, 75, wanted to be an engineer as a boy in Pollenza, but yielded to his mother's pleading and entered a theological seminary, graduated with honors in only 2 1/2 years. Appointed Bishop of Acireale in Sicily in 1922, he attracted attention by pulling his poverty-stricken diocese out of its downhill course. He became nuncio to Venezuela in 1926, to Peru in 1936, to Belgium in 1946, to Portugal in 1953, is famed for his sense of humor and daring use of languages that he has not completely mastered.

Giuseppe Fietta, 75, has a long career as a papal diplomat but often likes to stroll the streets of his north Italian home town of Ivrea and play boccie with his friends. He became nuncio to Haiti and the Dominican Republic in 1931, to Argentina from 1936 to 1953, when he returned to Rome as nuncio to Italy.

Paolo Giobbe, 78, has been apostolic internuncio to The Netherlands since 1936, is known for his unspectacular but painstaking diplomacy.

Carlo Chiarlo, 77, born in the central Italian town of Pontremoli. is a veteran of 40 years in the Vatican foreign service--most of the time in Latin America. From 1922 to 1928 he served in Warsaw; then, with the rank of archbishop, he was sent as papal nuncio to Bolivia. After posts in several Central American countries, Pope Pius XII appointed him nuncio to Brazil in 1946, where he is remembered for his warmth, wit and sharp judgment.

CURIA ADMINISTRATORS

Carlo Confalonieri, 65, has given up his favorite sport of mountain climbing, which he practiced as a sergeant in World War I. Son of a cabinetmaker in the north Italian town of Seveso, he was aide and confidant of Achille Cardinal Ratti, both as Archbishop of Milan and as Pope Pius XI. Since 1950, he has served in Rome as secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities.

Alberto di Jorio, 74, because of his efficiency is known in Vatican circles as the most American of the non-American cardinals. He served as secretary of the Conclave that elected Pope John, looks like a successful banker--which is what, in effect, he is. As secretary of the Institute for Works of Religion, he guides the Vatican bank, whose holdings he is said to have considerably augmented through shrewd investment.

Francesco Roberti, 69, is one of the church's top canon lawyers, a member of many pontifical academies and commissions. When a Communist paper in 1948 accused him of illegal financial manipulations, Lawyer Roberti promptly sued for libel, and won a decision that sent the reporter to jail for 20 months.

Francesco Bracci, 79, oldest of the new cardinals, is known as "the man who never laughs." In 1914 he became a lawyer in the Sacred Rota (Vatican high court), became a top expert on matrimonial cases, is now a full judge of the Rota and secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Andre Jullien, 76, born near Lyon, France, taught canon law at the seminary there before becoming a judge of the Rota. Since 1944, hardworking, modest Msgr. Jullien has been dean of the Rota.

PASTORS

Giovanni Batista Montini, 61, universally respected throughout Italy as the brightest and busiest of prelates, is the leading new pastoral cardinal, although most of his experience has been in Vatican administration. The son of a well-to-do Brescia lawyer and member of Parliament, Montini entered the Vatican State Secretariat in 1924, where he served for 30 years, becoming (with Tardini) the late Pope's Pro-Secretary of State and one of his closest advisers. He is said to have begged off a red hat in Pius XII's 1952 consistory: instead, the Pope made him in 1954 Archbishop of Milan, Italy's largest diocese. Here, working his usual 18 hours a day, Montini has modernized the archdiocese and successfully challenged the biggest guns that the Communists can muster. Membership in Milan's Red unions has declined notably since his arrival.

Alfonso Castaldo, 68, Archbishop of Naples, is regarded by the people of his native city as almost a living saint. A poor boy who knew what it was to go hungry ("It does not only affect your stomach, but it may have detrimental effects on your soul"), Castaldo as a priest devoted himself to welfare activities and schools, is also known for his personal charities.

Giovanni Urbani, 58, was appointed by Pope John to succeed him as Patriarch of Venice--the first native Venetian to be made patriarch in 150 years. He served as an artilleryman in World War I, though he was noted more for praising the Lord than passing the ammunition, and he tirelessly organized seminars and study groups for the soldiers. Later, Urbani became top national ecclesiastical adviser to the Catholic Action movement, traveled all over Italy organizing parish priests in a grass-roots light against Communism. In 1955 he was made Bishop of Verona, with the personal title of archbishop.

Jose M. Bueno y Monreal, 54, native of Saragossa, Spain, was attorney general of the Madrid-Alcala diocese during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Pius XII gave him one of the church's most delicate and difficult assignments by appointing him in 1954 archbishop coadjutor to the late Pedro Cardinal Segura, the terrible-tempered, reactionary Archbishop of Seville. Cardinal Segura refused to see him, tried to block Monreal's every effort to liberalize Segura's restrictions (such as forbidding Catholics to attend "public spectacles'').

William Godfrey, 69, son of a Liverpool haulage contractor, is a scholarly, somewhat remote man who headed the English College in Rome from 1930 to 1937. In 1938 he was appointed apostolic delegate to Britain, the first papal delegate to that country since the Reformation. In World War II Archbishop Godfrey also served as charge d'affaires in the Polish government in exile. In 1953 he was made Archbishop of Liverpool, and three years later became Archbishop of Westminster and Primate of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales.

Paul Marie A. Richaud, 71, was born in Versailles, and in 1938 became Bishop of Laval, near Rennes. A zealous promoter of Catholic Action and the French boy scout movement, he was named Bishop of Bordeaux in 1950, appropriately is noted in that wine-producing region for his fine cellar.

Julius Doepfner, 45, youngest member of the College of Cardinals (TIME, Dec. 1). Born in Hausen, near Wuerzburg, he was ordained only a few weeks after World War II began, returned to Germany, became vice rector of the training college for priests in Wuerzburg. In 1943 Pius XII appointed him Bishop of Wuerzburg and last year Bishop of Berlin, where he won the sympathy of refugees and young people, took a firm stance against Communism.

Francis Koenig, 53, Archbishop of Vienna since 1956, is, like Pope John, a farmer's son and a linguist. As a priest in Nazi-ruled Austria, he was in constant trouble with the Nazis over their claim that the state alone should be responsible for youth. During World War II he was a familiar figure at Allied P.W. camps. An authority on the ancient religions of Mithraism and Zoroastrianism, Koenig has written several books, articles and a dictionary on this subject. Said one of his friends last week: "Vienna has gained a cardinal but lost a scholar."

Antonio Maria Barbieri, 66, is the first Uruguayan prelate ever to have a red hat. His family in Montevideo was strongly opposed to his joining the priesthood, and he worked as an insurance clerk until he came of age and joined the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin, later studied theology in Rome. An excellent violinist, historian and essayist, he became Archbishop of Montevideo in 1940.

Jose Garibi y Rivera, 69, is Mexico's first cardinal. He has been Archbishop of Guadalajara since 1936, is now president of the Council of Mexican Bishops. Archbishop Rivera has taken a consistently strong stand against the Mexican state encroachments on the church.

Richard James Gushing, 63, Boston-born Archbishop of Boston since 1944, is a warm, gregarious man (TIME, Dec. 1) who has been known to join in an Irish jig at a charity party. Charities of all kinds are his special concern. In the 14 years since he became Boston's archbishop, his diocese has grown from 1,133,075 to more than 1,500,000.

John Francis O'Hara, 70, onetime president of Notre Dame University, was military delegate to the Roman Catholics in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. From 1945 through 1951 he was Bishop of Buffalo, then was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia. An unassuming man who occasionally opens the door of his residence himself, he is known as a brilliant administrator given to lightning, unannounced visits in his growing diocese.

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