ROME - The cardinals are originally, and still ceremonially, the clergy of the Church of Rome: the bishops of the suffragan dioceses, the parish priests, and the deacons attendant upon the Roman Pontiff. Most cardinals are cardinal priests. The word “priest” means “elder”, like the Latin word “senator”, and the cardinals have often been compared to, and even treated as, the spiritual Roman senate. The word “deacon” means "minister”, and departments of the Roman Curia are called “dicasteries” — which means “ministries”, even though, in theory, they are the most junior members of the College.