Today the names of the new Cardinals were announced. They will be given their red hats in a consistory on 14 February.
The one that interests me is His Excellency Most Reverend Luigi De Magistris, Major Pro-Penitentiary Emeritus. Alas, he is over 80. He is exactly the sort of man I would want to vote in a conclave.
I have described him sometimes as “the last Roman priest”, even though he is Sardinian. Arcbp. De Magistris has had a remarkable career and it was my great privilege to get to know him and to work with him a bit when he was a member of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei”. I would often run into him during his daily walks, and we would walk and talk and I could pick his brains. Also, he often walked by my ground level window facing into the courtyard of the Palazzo del Sant’Uffizio. He would stop and, through the window (almost as if visiting a prisoner), share anecdotes, witticisms, proverbs, bits of advice. Meeting him in the highways and byways, he was the consummate gentleman priest, humble and at the same time perfectly aware of his office once he was consecrated.
I learned a great deal about the inner and even hidden workings of things from him.
He should have been made Cardinal many years ago.
Congratulations Luigi Cardinal De Magistris
