Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston Roman Catholic archdiocese is one of 23 people to be elevated to the rank of cardinal next month by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican announced today.
DiNardo, who worked from 1984 to 1990 at the Vatican as a staff member of the Congregation for Bishops, will be Texas' first cardinal ever. He became archbishop of the 1.3-million member Houston-Galveston archdiocese in 2006.
The diocese has called a news conference at noon today in downtown Houston at which DiNardo, 58, will appear.
The Ohio native, who was ordained a priest in Pennsylvania in 1977, is one of two Americans on the list of people who will become cardinals at a Vatican ceremony scheduled Nov. 24 by the pope.
The other American is Archbishop John Foley, a longtime Vatican official who was recently named grand master of a lay religious community called the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. The order seeks to protect the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land, the Vatican said.
DiNardo was first named bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa, in October 1997.
DiNardo and Foley join the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad and archbishops from four continents on the list of people who will join the ranks of the "princes" of the Roman Catholic Church.
Eighteen of the 23 are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pontiff when necessary..
Among the under-80 new cardinals are the archbishops of Paris; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; Valencia, Spain; Barcelona, Spain; Armagh, Ireland; Monterrey, Mexico; Dakar, Senegal; and Sao Palo, Brazil, as well as a handful of Italians.
In addition to the 18 electoral cardinals, Benedict named five prelates over age 80 who he said deserved particular merit, including the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Emmanuel III Delly.
Delly has been outspoken about the need to protect minority Christians from Iraq's spiraling violence a concern voiced repeatedly by Benedict in recent months.
Also named for commitment and service to the church was the emeritus archbishop of Parana, Argentina, Monsignor Estanislao Esteban Karlic. Benedict named another Argentine cardinal as well, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches.
Benedict said he had wanted to also name the elderly bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, Poland, Bishop Ignacy Jez, but he died on Tuesday, the eve of the announcement.
"We offer our prayers to him," Benedict said.
Several Vatican officials were named, including the German Monsignor Josef Cordes, who heads the Vatican's charitable works as president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"; Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for Laity; and Italian Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, former Vatican foreign minister and current governor of Vatican City.
DiNardo was born in Steubenville, Ohio. He has a twin sister, Margaret, an older brother and a younger sister.
The family moved to Pittsburgh and DiNardo attended Catholic schools there before entering St. Paul Seminary and Duquesne University. In 1969, he won a scholarship to attend the Catholic University of America and went on to study theology at North American College in Rome.
