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15 Cardinals installed

VATICAN CITY: Fifteen prelates from around the world joined the elite College of Cardinals on Thursday, becoming the newest advisers to the Pope who one day will be called on to elect his successor. The beaming new ``princes'' of the church processed onto the steps of St. Peter's Basilica to applause from a crowd of thousands in the square below, decked out for the first time in their crimson robes. Pope Benedict XVI opened the ceremony, known as a consistory, by reading out each of the new Cardinals' names in Latin, drawing applause after he pronounced each one. Their ranks included Hong Kong's Bishop Joseph Zen, an outspoken critic of China; Pope John Paul II's longtime private secretary Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz; and the Vatican's new chief doctrinal watchdog, Archbishop William Levada. Pope Benedict announced on February 22 that he was naming the Cardinals, 12 of whom are under age 80 and, thus, eligible to vote in a conclave. There will now be 193 cardinals, 120 of whom can vote.

AP

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