Rumblings out of Rome indicate a consistory is coming — and, with it, the usual flurry of new red hats:

The Vatican has not officially announced plans for a consistory, but rumors about the appointment of new cardinals have circulated in Rome for several months, and many observers had expected Pope Benedict to call a consistory earlier this year.

There are now 182 living cardinals, of whom 105 are below the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote in a papal conclave. Thus the number of cardinal-electors is well below the statutory limit of 120.
Two more cardinals will mark their 80th birthdays this autumn. Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the former president of the Vatican City governatorate, will be 80 on September 14. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Secretary of State, will turn celebrate his birthday on November 23. Three more cardinals will turn 80 during 2008.

Several prelates are considered likely candidates to receive a red hat, since they occupy posts ordinarily held by a cardinal. They include Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the longtime sostituto, or second-ranking official in the Secretariat of State, who is now prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches; Archbishop John Foley, the American prelate who was the longtime head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications before his recent appointment as pro-Grandmaster of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre; and Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican “foreign minister” who is now president of the Vatican City governatorate. Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, is another very likely candidate for elevation.

Some other notables who might be on the list, from the American wing, are Washington’s Donald Wuerl and Baltimore’s Edwin O’Brien.