Pope Francis will create his first cardinals during a consistory Feb. 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

The pope also is expected to use the occasion "to have a meeting with the cardinals for consultations" immediately before the ceremony, as retired Pope Benedict XVI did in the run-up to his consistories, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman.

The names of the new cardinals usually are announced a little more than a month before the consistory.