Inducting 15 new members into the College of Cardinals, Pope Benedict XVI called on them to be even stronger witnesses of God's love for the world and their own love for the church.

At the March 24 ceremony in which the prelates from 11 countries became cardinals, he prayed that the red garments they now wear would inspire them to an even more "passionate love for Christ, for his church and for all humanity."

Giving them rings during a March 25 Mass, he told them they are called to serve the church "with the love of a spouse."

At both services, U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was the first of the new cardinals to approach the pope.

Cardinal Levada, the former archbishop of San Francisco, addressed the pope on behalf of the new cardinals March 24. In accepting their new status, Cardinal Levada said, the new cardinals renewed their commitment of "total love and unconditional fidelity to Christ the Lord and to the Christian people."

"This love for Jesus Christ and his church, this fidelity to humanity which has a burning thirst for truth, we want to place into your hands," he told the pope.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston also was among the 15 to join the College of Cardinals in the first consistory of Pope Benedict's pontificate.

At the March 24 prayer service, Pope Benedict told the entire College of Cardinals, which now numbers 193 members, that he counted on them "to proclaim to the world that God is love."

"Ensure that the principle of love will spread far and wide and will give new life to the church," he said.

At Mass the next day, the pope slipped a ring on the finger of each cardinal saying, "Receive the ring from the hand of Peter and know that with the love of the prince of the apostles your love for the church will be reinforced."

After the ring Mass, Pope Benedict hosted a lunch for the new cardinals and the 140 other members of the College of Cardinals who came to the Vatican for a March 23 meeting with the pope and for the two days of ceremonies for their new peers.

During the consistory, all of the new cardinals were supported by groups of family, friends and the faithful, who cheered and waved flags when their cardinal went forward to kneel at the pope's feet.

A 60-member group from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was in reality an expanded version of a pilgrimage from St. Anthony Church in Long Beach, the home parish of Cardinal Levada. The core of the group was composed of eight of his high school classmates, including his successor as archbishop of San Francisco, Archbishop George H. Niederauer.

Another group of Cardinal Levada supporters came from Portland, Ore., where he served as archbishop, 1986-1995. Todd Cooper, a 34-year-old member of St. Rose of Lima Parish in Portland, led the 50-member group.

"The Archdiocese of Portland is not that big," Cooper said, "but (Chicago) Cardinal (Francis E.) George came through there and now Cardinal Levada. It's kind of neat to have that connection, and it brings us closer to the universal church."

Among the Boston pilgrims in the square March 24 was Frank Woodward, who said Cardinal O'Malley "has had a calming influence" on the Boston Archdiocese in the wake of the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Another Boston pilgrim, Nancy Mandarini, said, "He's a very humble, holy man." She said she hoped that the elevation of Cardinal O'Malley to the College of Cardinals would mark "a new beginning" for the Boston Archdiocese.

Among the most applauded of the new cardinals at the Mass were Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, Pope John Paul II's longtime personal secretary, and Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong.

Cardinal Zen was cheered by some 300 Chinese Catholics who gathered at the Vatican from around the world. The group included 100 clergy and nuns from mainland China studying in Rome, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency. The delegation from Hong Kong numbered 141 people, including the cardinal's oldest and youngest sisters, the agency added.

During the March 24 ceremony a special prayer was offered in Chinese "for all those who still suffer because of their Christian faith."

The crowd prayed that "in prayer they would experience the certainty of communion with the whole church and that one day they will harvest in joy that which they have sown in patience and love for long years."

The oldest of the new cardinals, 87-year-old Cardinal Peter Poreku Dery, retired archbishop of Tamale, Ghana, was seated in a wheelchair and was carried up the steps of St. Peter's Square to the pope.

Pope Benedict stood to place the red hat, called a biretta, on Cardinal Dery's head and caressed the cardinal's cheek after offering him the sign of peace.

The last cardinal created was 82-year-old French Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, a noted biblical scholar.

Cardinal Vanhoye told the Catholic newspaper Avvenire that he got a call from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, a couple of days before Pope Benedict announced the new cardinals.

"I asked myself, Why are they looking for me? What exegetical errors did I make in my writings?" he said.

The news that Pope Benedict was about to name him a cardinal, and not that he was about to be called on the carpet, "fell from the sky; I could not believe it," he told the newspaper.

---CNS