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	Pope Meets Cardinals Ahead of Church Council Meeting Monsters and Critics November 19, 2010 http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1600143.php/Pope-meets-cardinals-ahead-of-church-council-meeting Vatican City - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday began talks with top clerics focusing on pressing issues facing the Catholic church, including sexual abuse of minors by priests and the topic of religious freedom. The meeting comes on the eve of a consistory ceremony to create 24 new cardinals. Some 150 cardinals were expected to attend Friday's day-long meeting of 'prayer and reflection,' the Vatican said. The pontiff is likely to take advantage of the gathering of cardinals in Rome to discuss the ongoing persecution of Christians around the world, including recent attacks in Iraq and a fresh dispute with communist China, which broke out earlier this week. On Saturday the pontiff is set to hand out red hats to 24 new cardinals - 20 of whom are are under 80 years old, which means that they will be eligible to take part in the conclave that will elect the next pope. They include clerics from Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Ecuador, the United States, Poland, Germany and Italy. The consistory will be the third of Benedict's papacy, after previous editions in March 2006 and November 2007. The Catholic church has been hit by scandals involving the molestation of children by priests in several countries, including Ireland, the United States, Belgium, Brazil and the pontiff's native Germany. Benedict in various interventions this year has condemned the abuse, and has tightened regulations for dealing with predators within the clergy. Friday's Vatican meeting comes just one day after the pontiff's spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a sternly-worded statement warning that the currently warming relations between the Vatican and China were being jeopardised. Lombardi was referring to reports that authorities in Beijing plan a unilateral ordination next week of a bishop whose candidacy has not been approved by Benedict. The reports said that Chinese bishops loyal to the pontiff would be forced to attend the ceremony. On Wednesday during his weekly general audience, Benedict referred to persecution of Christians around the world when he called for the sparing of the life of woman in Pakistan sentenced to hang for allegedly insulting the prophet Mohammed.
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