Pope tells new cardinals not to be lured by power

Vatican City — Pope Benedict XVI has told his six new cardinals to resist the allure of power and instead be like Jesus and focus their work on spreading the Christian faith.

Benedict celebrated a Mass yesterday in St. Peter’s Basilica with the cardinals he formally elevated a day earlier. The six hail from Colombia, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines and the U.S. — a broad geographic mix that helps even out the Europe-heavy College of Cardinals who will elect 85-year-old Benedict’s successor.

In his homily, Benedict told his new collaborators that Jesus had no political ambitions. He said: “To be like Jesus, then, means not letting ourselves be allured by the worldly logic of power, but bringing into the world the light of truth and God’s love.”

The new cardinals elevated last Saturday included Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, and the archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria, Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan.

The ceremony was both joyful and emotional for Cardinal Tagle, seen by many to be a rising star in the church, visibly choked up as he knelt before Benedict to receive his three-pointed red hat, or biretta, and gold ring. He wiped tears from his eyes as he returned to his place. /ap