Hints of "Dawn"

And so, church, welcome to the tensest of days here in the office....

That said, with all signs pointing to B16's announcement of his third class of new cardinals in the morning, Italy's (and, indeed, the world's) reigning vaticanista-in-chief -- Il Giornale's Andrea Tornielli -- reports that the expected 20 November intake will comprise 24 red hats, leaving unclear whether the pontiff will deviate from the now-traditional maximum of 120 electors set by Paul VI in 1975.

In addition, in an audio file posted on his paper's website, Tornielli read several names from a purported biglietto, albeit an incomplete one.

Keeping the "incomplete" bit in mind, here are the designates from his list:

• Archbishop Angelo Amato SDB, 72, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, 66, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
• Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, 75, major penitentiary of the Roman church
• Archbishop Velasio dePaolis CS, 75, prefect for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
• Archbishop Paolo Sardi, 76, pro-Patron of the Order of Malta
• Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, 76, archpriest of the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls
• Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, 68, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture
• Archbishop Paolo Romeo, 72, of Palermo
• Archbishop Raymond Burke, 62, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Archbishop Kurt Koch, 60, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Archbishop Robert Sarah, 65, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum
• Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, 57
  
• Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, 73
  
• Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, 62
  

That makes 15 of a potential 22 electors.

Meanwhile, in the "honorary" division -- that is, clerics elevated over age 80 in recognition of their distinguished service but ineligible to enter a conclave -- Tornielli ran two names...

• Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, 93, the director-emeritus of the Sistine Choir
• Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, 81, president-emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences
  

That's where things stand... as ever, more as it comes in.

SVILUPPO: Adding several names he simply deems "most probable," Tornielli updates list, including the names of Archbishops Laurent Monsengwo Pasiya of Kinshasa, Thomas Collins of Toronto, Donald Wuerl of Washington and the 75 year-old Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, Antonio Naguib -- who would become the lone Oriental patriarch to hold a seat in the voting college.

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