Ratzinger becomes dean of college of cardinals - World - Joseph Ratzinger - Brief Article

VATICAN CITY: When Cardinal Bernardin Gantin celebrated his 80th birthday May 8, the most important of his potential duties as dean of the College of Cardinals passed into the hands of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The office of dean is largely ceremonial, unless the office of pope is vacant; in that case, the dean calls all the world's cardinals to Rome and presides over the funeral of the pope.

The dean's major responsibility when there is no pope, however, is to preside over the daily preparatory meetings in which the cardinals discuss the challenges facing the church, deal with urgent Vatican business and prepare for the conclave, or election of the next pope.

Under rules reaffirmed by the pope in 1996, cardinals who have celebrated their 80th birthdays may participate in the preparatory meetings, but not in the election of the next pope.

According to canon law, once the dean reaches age 80, his responsibility for the preparatory meetings and the conclave pass to the vice dean, currently Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Ratzinger, 75, was elected vice dean of the College of Cardinals in 1998. Gantin, a native of Benin who had been prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, was elected dean in 1993.

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