Report: Suleiman to Attend al-Rahi's Official Appointment as Cardinal

President Michel Suleiman is planning to travel to Rome on November 24 to attend the ceremony that would officially appoint Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a new cardinal in the Catholic church, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper also said that Suleiman could meet with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Vatican.

The pope announced the appointment of al-Rahi last month along with five other non-European cardinals, becoming the fourth patriarch from Lebanon to be chosen as cardinal.

After this month's consistory, there will be 62 European cardinals eligible to vote, 14 North Americans, 21 South Americans, 11 Africans and 11 Asians.

"By convening this little consistory (on November 24) I wanted to complete the one held in February in the context of a new evangelism ... showing that the Church belongs to all peoples, speaks all languages," the pope said last month.

"It is not the Church of one continent but a universal Church," he added, rebuffing some critics who claim he was being too Eurocentric, after naming 22 new cardinals in February, 16 of whom are Europeans.

Al-Rahi was named patriarch last year to succeed Nasrallah Sfeir, who resigned after serving for 25 years as head of the Maronite church in Lebanon.