Don't Mess With Texas: In a First, the Red Hat Goes South

In a historic moment that, as never before, underscores the significance of American Catholicism's gravitational shift to the South, Pope Benedict will elevate Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston to the College of Cardinals next month.

Head of the 1.5 million Catholics of the US' fourth-largest city, DiNardo, 58, was named as one of 23 cardinals-designate by the Pope earlier this morning.

While the global list's second slot was, by seniority, given to Philadelphia's own Archbishop John Foley, the Grand Master of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Cardinal-designate DiNardo was the lone resident American prelate to get the nod.

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