Pope Benedict today installed his first new cardinals, elevating 15 men from Hong Kong to Boston to join the exclusive Roman Catholic group that advises him and will one day elect his successor.

The ceremony, held on a cool day under dull skies on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica, including a prayer for religious freedom in China, where the Vatican says Catholics loyal to the Pope are not allowed to practice their faith openly.

Benedict, less than a month away from his first anniversary as Pope, gave each of the men their red cardinal’s hats and urged them in a homily to preach a message of love and spread the faith.

"I am counting on you to see to it that the Church’s solicitude for the poor and needy challenges the world with a powerful statement on the civilisation of love," he said.

"May the scarlet that you now wear always express Christ’s charity, inspiring you to a passionate love for Christ, for his church and for all humanity," he said. "I am counting on you, dear brother cardinals, to ensure that the principle of love will spread far and wide, and will give new life to the church at every level of her hierarchy."

"I am counting on you to see to it that our common endeavor to fix our gaze on Christ’s open heart will hasten and secure the path toward the full unity of Christians," he said.

Benedict has said unifying all Christians is a priority of his pontificate. Handing each man his four-cornered biretta hat, he recalled they were coloured red to signify a cardinal’s commitment to spread and defend the faith even if it meant spilling his blood.

The new cardinals will be given their rings during a Mass tomorrow in St. Peter’s Square.

Twelve of the 15 new cardinals are under 80, and thus eligible to enter a conclave to choose a pope. They are mostly from Europe, Asia and the United States.

Stanislaw Dziwisz, 66, the Archbishop of Krakow, was the best-known face, having been at the late Pope John Paul’s side during 26 years as his faithful private secretary. He is one of the most influential men in the Vatican.

Archbishop Dziwisz received the biggest round of applause and even the Pope seemed filled with emotion when he embraced Dziwisz, who remains a living symbol of the pontificate that eneded a year ago. Dziwisz’s lips could be seen saying "Thank You, Thank You", in Italian.

The most influential was William Levada, 69, the former archbishop of San Francisco appointed by Benedict last May to replace him as head of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Levada spoke on behalf of all the new cardinals, telling the pope they gave him their unconditional loyalty, "free of concern for ourselves and our own lives, as this scarlet (robe) unceasingly reminds and warns us".

Each cardinal pledged as much when he took an oath, promising to always remain loyal to the church, the pope _ and to keep any secrets whose revelation "could bring harm or dishonor to the holy church."

The biggest surprise of the new cardinals, whose names were first announced last month, was the elevation of Hong Kong’s Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. Zen is an outspoken supporter of democracy and critic of Beijing’s restrictive religious policies, which do not allow Chinese Catholics to recognise the pope’s authority.

A prayer read to the congregation in Chinese during the ceremony remembered "all those who still suffer for their Christian faith" and that they would soon see the fruit of their suffering.

The Pope, whose German homeland was divided into democratic and communist zones for 40 years, also promoted Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, Archbishop of the South Korean capital Seoul and Church administrator for Pyongyang in communist North Korea.

Archbishop Sean O’Malley, who took over in Boston in 2003 to clean up after a clerical sexual abuse scandal forced Cardinal Bernard Law to resign, was the second American who received his red cardinal’s hat at the ceremony.

Other new cardinals included archbishops Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino of Caracas, Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, France, Antonio Canizares Llovera of Toledo, Spain and Carlo Caffarra of Bologna, Italy.

Security was tight around the square, with uniformed and plainclothes police ringing the area. After the ceremony, known as a consistory, the Church has a total of 193 cardinals, 120 of them under 80 and able to vote for the next pope.

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