Mahony Installed by Pontiff as Cardinal : Catholics: He becomes the first California-born prince of church at Vatican ceremony.

Pope John Paul II installed Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony as the first California-born cardinal Friday in a rite of passage that brought American high-tech to St. Peter’s Basilica and silent joy to a community of cloistered nuns in the ancient heart of Rome.

About 430 pilgrims from California watched Mahony and 22 other cardinals from 15 countries receive from John Paul the ridged scarlet hat called a biretta that is symbol of their eminence as the Pope’s closest advisers. Among the world’s 850 million Roman Catholics, there are now 162 cardinals.

The lanky Mahony, at 55 the second youngest of the new cardinals but easily the tallest, came 12th on John Paul’s list Friday on a spectacular summer’s day in Rome.

At 12:24 p.m., with his mother watching, the electrician’s son from North Hollywood knelt in scarlet robes before the Pope to accept his biretta. Mahony was officially a prince of his church, and he was thinking, as he would recall later, “how incredible that I’m up here; it doesn’t seem possible.”

Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, the other American installed as a cardinal Friday, said later, “It’s finally caught up with me that it’s really happened. I don’t think of myself as a great man.”

In a Latin ritual of great pageantry accompanied by a full-voiced Vatican choir, the Pope commanded his new cardinals to defend their faith.

“To serve and give your life for your brothers and sisters to the point of shedding your blood: this is the charge that is solemnly entrusted to you this morning,” the Pope told the cardinals during the ceremony. “These are not merely conventional words: some of you know that very well.”

Mahony’s Class of ’91 includes new cardinals from Romania and Czechoslovakia, both imprisoned under Communist rule, and--to the fury of the Chinese government--91-year-old Ignatius Gong Pinmei, the exiled bishop of Shanghai, who spent 30 years in jail and now lives in Stamford, Conn.

Gong, secretly named cardinal by the Pope in 1979 while still in jail, was assisted up the 10 marble steps and received his hat from an obviously moved pontiff to a standing ovation. “I am very content, very joyous,” Gong said in French a few minutes later from his wheelchair.

Expressing gratitude for the rebirth of the church in Eastern Europe, and departing from his text to appeal for peace in Yugoslavia, John Paul noted that his appointments included prelates from Christian communities which “despite the bitterness and persistence of their trials . . . did not give in to flattery or blackmail.”

On a historic day that marked a generational change in church leadership for cities as disparate as Guadalajara, Mexico, and the new Berlin, substance competed with spectacle.

Every new cardinal had his own band of celebrating pilgrims. Happy Czechoslovaks wore ornate peasant costumes. Swiss celebrants waved paper red-and-white flags.

When it became apparent to planners that not all the cardinals’ followers would fit into the 7,500 seats of the modernistic Paul VI audience hall, the archdiocese of Los Angeles leaped electronically into the breach, according to spokesman William C. Rivera.

So was it that about 2,000 pilgrims watched the festivities on a wall-sized television screen provided by the archdiocese and slung before the main, four-pillared baroque altar inside St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a unique, invitation-only premiere for the basilica, momentarily transforming the massive church into the backdrop for a cool and spacious happening.

Everybody who is anybody in the Catholic church here turned out for the consistory Friday, including virtually the entire College of Cardinals, ranged in their finery on the audience hall stage before their enthroned Pope.

There were some exceptions. The 14 Augustinian nuns who are the custodians of the Church of the Four Crowned Saints near the Colosseum stayed away: They are a cloistered, contemplative order who live under a vow of silence.

Yet there was silent elation in the church, which was built in the 4th Century and which now badly needs a restorative cleaning. On Friday, it became the titular home in Rome of Los Angeles’ new cardinal.

“We hope that our community has now acquired a father,” said Mother Rita Mancini, a prioress who speaks with visitors for the order. Mahony said he was delighted with the church, which has a 13th-Century cloister and may house the bones of Christians slain in Roman circuses.

Mahony visited the church, for which he will be responsible, earlier in the week. “We are very happy,” said Mother Mancini. The church’s new protector, she said, “speaks mostly Spanish, but a little Italian.”

In welcoming the new cardinals at their consistory, John Paul preached from a letter of St. Peter, the first Pope: “Tend the flock of God. . . . Be examples to the flock.”

The Pope told the cardinals they must minister “with love and vigor; with the clarity and wisdom of teachers; with the energy and strength of pastors; with the fidelity and courage of martyrs.”

Mahony said he was struck by John Paul’s choice of Scripture.

“Feed the flock . . . amid all the red hats, joy and honor of the day, the message is not regal living, but to live a life of service,” Mahony said.

Mahony and Bevilacqua join American archdiocesan cardinals in Boston, New York, Washington, and Chicago.

Their appointment, said New York Cardinal John J. O’Connor, “brings fresh blood and new ideas to the leadership of the American church. They are both strong men, faithful men. They are in line with the Holy Father. And now of course they are in quite a different position than they were before. They have direct access to the Holy Father.”

O’Connor was among the well-wishers at Mass that Mahony celebrated after the consistory with 70 priests and 17 of his fellow bishops, including Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago and Justin F. Rigali, a Los Angeles native who is secretary of the College of Cardinals, and of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops.

As a member of the College, assuming good health, Mahony will have the right to vote for John Paul’s successors until the year 2016.

Like the Pope who elevated them Friday, Mahony and the 67-year-old Bevilacqua, the New York-born son of Italian immigrants, are doctrinal conservatives with a strong sense of social justice. Neither wasted any time making their views known Friday. Bevilacqua said he hoped President Bush would replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall with a judge who shares the church’s opposition to abortion, and Mahony called for decisiveness in addressing the problems of multiethnic American cities.

“If we don’t bear effective witness by bringing people together, American cities like Los Angeles risk becoming Third World cities, separated by ghettos and castes,” Mahony said.

SYMBOLS OF PAST

Archbishop Roger Mahony wore symbols worn by two predecessors as he was elevated to cardinal. F19