VATICAN CITY - TWENTY-three new cardinals knelt before Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday to accept their birettas - square red hats - during a time-honoured ceremony inducting them into the elite body that advises and elects popes.

The 23 new 'princes of the Church", of whom five are aged 80 or older and thus ineligible to vote in a papal election, fill out the ranks of the College of Cardinals to 201, including 120 who will choose the pope's successor.

'Dear brothers, as you enter the College of Cardinals, the Lord asks you and entrusts you with the service of love: love for God, love for his Church ... with maximum and unconditional dedication,' the pope told the freshmen in Saint Peter's Basilica.

The 80-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church was clad in a gold embroidered cope or mantle from the 15th century and the mitre of his 19th-century predecessor Pius IX, underscoring his fondness for the liturgical splendours of the past.

Patriarch of Babylon

In his homily, Pope Benedict singled out the elevation of the patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldeans, which he said reflected his wish to express his spiritual closeness and affection for the Iraqi people.

'How can one not turn one's gaze with apprehension and affection, in this moment of joy, to the dear Christian communities in Iraq?' he asked, drawing loud applause from the prelates assembled in Saint Peter's Basilica.

Emmanuel III Delly, the 80-year-old spiritual leader of Iraqi Christians, said on Friday that the honour was for 'all Iraqis.' The cardinals, their red robes overlaid with white surplices symbolising purity, then accepted their red birettas from the pope in the solemn ritual known as a consistory.

In a brief salute to the pope on behalf of all the new cardinals, prelate Leonardo Sandri said: 'We are ready to follow you when ... you teach that marriage and family are the original unit of society, that life extends from conception to its natural end.'

After the ceremony, the pope went on an impromptu walkabout in Saint Peter's Square, telling the cheering pilgrims: 'The new cardinals reflect the universality of the Church. ... The Church speaks in every language, embraces all peoples, all cultures. Together we all are the family of God.'

The new cardinals headed next to various rooms around the Vatican where they received traditional courtesy calls and congratulations from friends and acquaintances.

The freshmen are the second group of cardinals created by Pope Benedict since his election in April 2005, having inducted 15 in March last year.

Weighted in favour of Europe

Announced five weeks ago, the new influx does not alter the geographical balance of the College of Cardinals, which is heavily weighted in favour of Europe.

Thirteen Europeans join two North Americans, four Latin Americans, two Africans and two Asians in the new group.

Europe accounts for an ever-shrinking percentage of the overall Catholic population, while nearly half of the world's Catholics are in Latin America, which combined with Africa and Asia make up some two-thirds of the 1.1 billion-strong Church.

Some three-quarters of the cardinals are the heads of the Church's largest archdioceses, while most of the rest head departments of the Vatican administration known as congregations.

The new cardinals include seven Vatican prelates and 11 archbishops of key cities including Paris, Spain's Valencia and Barcelona, Sao Paulo in Brazil, Mumbai in India and Dakar in Senegal.

From Africa there is also Nairobi Archbishop John Njue.

The new cardinals were to receive the gold ring of their high office during a mass on Sunday. -- AFP

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