Either the entire Italian Vaticanisti corps is being had, or Benedict XVI really will hold his first consistory to create new cardinals on the 25th of March.
The chorus which began a week ago with a report from the Italian wire ADNKronos and gathered steam on Monday when Andrea Tornielli in Il Giornale joined it gained even more momentum this morning when Marco Politi in La Repubblica and Luigi Accatoli in Corriere della Sera got on the wagon, reporting that a 25 March gathering would be announced by the Pope at his Wednesday audience on February 22, 11 days from today.
At least the timing's right -- the highly-tipped date falls on a Saturday, and weekends have been the preference for recent consistories given the lighter traffic in and around the Vatican.
Whether the 25th is the actual hullabaloo or the red hats are given on the 24th and the Mass of the Rings is the 25th remains an open question.
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