What does it take to get a red hat these days?

Pope Benedict XVI announced on Wednesday the election of 24 new cardinals, including two Americans: Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington DC and Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church. Their appointments to cardinal necessitate a forthright examination of their respective paths to the red hat - paths filled with discrimination, abuse of power, and staunch efforts to preserve the patriarchy. Click here to read Mary E. Hunt's article "Vatican Pitbulls Make Cardinal" for a look into the Vatican's election (read: reward) system and see just what it takes to get a red hat these days. The article appears in the online magazine Religion Dispatches.