Vatican City ? Pope Benedict XVI elevated 23 clerics from around the world to the top ranks of the Catholic Church Saturday, including the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, whom he welcomed by saying he was praying for peace in Iraq.

On a gilded papal throne set on an altar decorated with crimson roses, Benedict placed a red hat on the head of each cardinal as they knelt in turn during the solemn yet festive ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Among them was Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, 80, who received special mention in Benedict’s homily.

“By calling the patriarch of the Chaldean Church to enter into the College of Cardinals, I wanted to express in a concrete way my spiritual closeness and my affection” to Iraq’s Christians, Benedict said to applause.

“Our brothers and sisters in faith are experiencing in the flesh the dramatic consequences of an ongoing conflict and are living in an extremely fragile and delicate political situation,” he said, adding that he was praying for peace and reconciliation in the country.

Benedict has been outspoken in recent months in lamenting the plight of Christians in Iraq and the Middle East in general.

Delly said later he was “very moved” by the pope’s words.

“He spoke the truth,” he told reporters during a public greeting in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.

Resplendent in golden robes and a 19th century gilded miter, or bishop’s hat, once worn by Pope Pius IX, the pontiff presided over his second consistory. He increased to 120 the number of cardinals who will eventually choose his successor.

The pope told them that red signifies the dignity of their new office and that they must be ready to act “even to the point of spilling your blood for the increase of the Christian faith, for peace and harmony among the people of God, for freedom and the spread of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.”

Today, Benedict was to give each new “prince” of the church his cardinal’s ring.

Eighteen of the 23 new cardinals are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a future pontiff.