Talk:Size of the College of Cardinals

Progressive politics
There ought to be a note on the political use of increasing the size of the College of Cardinals, especially by Pope John XXIII, whose progressive policies were largely inspired by the reformist Cardinals he appointed during his brief time as Pope. He wanted his successor to be in his liberal mold and so he had to increase the number of Cardinals in order to assure the election of someone like Paul VI.

While Paul VI also appointed progressives to the rank of Cardinal, he did not to it to the same extent as John XXIII did, and actually began to support conservatives after the publication of Humanae Vitae. John Paul II continued to raise the number of Cardinals, except he was aiming to reverse much of the liberal movement started by John XXIII. So far, Benedict XVI has only added a small number of Cardinals, and so he doesn't really want to play politics with their ranks.

ADM (talk) 12:01, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Only if this can be attributed and sourced. Please avoid original research. Savidan 13:52, 22 July 2009 (UTC)