Under current ecclesiastical law, as defined by the apostolic constitutionUniversi Dominici gregis, only cardinals who have not passed their 80th birthdays on the day on which the Holy See becomes vacant are eligible to take part in a papal conclave to elect a new pope.[3] The same apostolic constitution specifies that no more than 120 cardinal electors can take part in a conclave, but makes no provision for there being more than 120 eligible cardinals;[3]as of 2023[update] there had never been more at the time of a conclave, though it has happened frequently at other times. Cardinals may be created in pectore ('in the breast'), in which case the pope does not reveal their identities; they are not entitled to the privileges of a cardinal until their names are published by the pope. The creations of any such cardinals whose names have not been revealed before the pope's death or resignation automatically lapse.[1][4]
The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders, with formal precedence in the following sequence:[1]
Cardinal bishops(CB): the six cardinals who are assigned the titles of the seven suburbicarian dioceses in the vicinity of Rome by the pope,[a] plus a few other cardinals who have been exceptionally co-opted into the order,[9][10] as well as patriarchs who head one of the Eastern Catholic Churches.[8][11] The two most senior cardinal bishops, who are elected by the cardinal bishops from among themselves (excluding the Eastern Catholic patriarchs) and approved by the pope, are the dean and the vice dean,[1] currently Giovanni Battista Re and Leonardo Sandri, respectively; among the cardinal electors, the senior cardinal bishop is Pietro Parolin.[b]
Cardinal priests(CP): bishops typically in charge of dioceses around the world, as well as former cardinal deacons who have opted to be elevated to the order.[12] The most senior cardinal priest is the protopriest, currently Michael Michai Kitbunchu; among the cardinal electors, the senior cardinal priest is Vinko Puljić.[b]
Cardinal deacons(CD): bishops who work in the Roman Curia or the diplomatic service of the Holy See, and all other clergy, including priests who have been granted a dispensation not to be consecrated a bishop. They have the choice (Latin: optatio) of opting to become cardinal priests after having been cardinal deacons for ten years.[1][13] The most senior cardinal deacon is the protodeacon, currently Dominique Mamberti; he is also the senior cardinal deacon among the cardinal electors. The junior cardinal deacon among the electors is George Koovakad.[b]
For cardinal bishops (excluding the Eastern Catholic patriarchs), the dean is first in precedence, followed by the vice dean and then, in order of appointment as cardinal bishops, by the remainder. For cardinal bishops who are Eastern Catholic patriarchs, for cardinal priests and for cardinal deacons, precedence is determined by the date of the consistory in which they were created cardinals and then by the order in which they appeared in the official announcement or bulletin.
All cardinals listed are members of the Latin Church unless otherwise stated. Cardinals belonging to institutes of consecrated life or to societies of apostolic life are indicated by the relevant post-nominal letters. Cardinals in charge of dioceses are classified under the country where their diocese is located, although they may be citizens of a different country.
This list is complete and up to date as of 25January2025.[update]
*Cardinals ineligible to participate in a papal conclave
At present, 138 of 252 cardinals are eligible to participate in a papal conclave. The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority,[3][251] if all 138 cardinal electors were to participate(notwithstanding the maximum of 120 specified in Universi Dominici gregis), would be 92.
Cardinals by appointing pope
This table indicates the number of current cardinals created by each pope and belonging to each order of the college.
While most cardinals belong to the Latin Church, which encompasses the vast majority of Catholics, a small number of cardinals belong to one of the twenty-three autonomous (sui iuris) Eastern Catholic Churches. At present, there are eight Eastern Catholic cardinals, including six cardinal electors, belonging to seven particular churchessui iuris:
For the purposes of this article, countries are grouped into continents generally according to the regions of the United Nations geoscheme; for the region of the Americas, North America comprises the subregions of Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean, while South America comprises the remaining subregion of the same name.[252] Statistics for the global distribution of Catholics are taken from the 2021edition[update] of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (Statistical Yearbook of the Church).[253]
At present, 94 countries are represented in the College of Cardinals, including 71 with at least one cardinal elector. The countries with the greatest numbers of cardinals are Italy (fifty-one), the United States (seventeen), and Spain (thirteen). Among the cardinal electors, the countries with the greatest numbers are Italy (seventeen), the United States (ten), and Brazil (seven).
↑ The dean of the College of Cardinals holds the title of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Ostiaex officio, in addition to his original one when first appointed a cardinal bishop.[1][7][8]
1 2 3 Among the cardinal electors, the senior cardinal bishop, the senior cardinal priest, the senior cardinal deacon and the junior cardinal deacon have specific roles in a papal conclave, such as presiding over the conclave itself (the senior cardinal bishop) or announcing the election of the pope (the senior cardinal deacon).[3]
↑ Schönborn was born to a Sudeten German family in Sudetenland, then part of Nazi Germany (in what is now the Czech Republic). Since his family was German, they were expelled to Austria a few months later, and he has served as a bishop there since 1991.
↑ Pujats was originally created a cardinal in pectore and formally revealed on 21February 2001.
↑ Brady's territorial jurisdiction as Archbishop of Armagh included a part of the United Kingdom.
↑ The Holy See's documentation gives Njue's date of birth as 1 January 1946, though for many years it said he was "born in 1944"[84] and used 31 December 1944 as his birthdate on its list of cardinal electors.[85] The change occurred sometime after 5 January 2024.[86]
↑ Ezzati was born in Italy. He emigrated to Chile as a young man and was ordained and served as a bishop there from 1996 to 2019.
↑ Lacunza Maestrojuán was born in Spain. He served as a bishop in Panama from 1985 to 2024.
↑ Lopez was born in Spain. He has served as a bishop in Morocco since 2017.
↑ Aós Braco was born in Spain. He served as a bishop in Chile from 2014 to 2023.
↑ Marengo was born in Italy. He has served as apostolic prefect in Mongolia since 2020.
↑ Bustillo was born in Spain. He has served as a bishop in France since 2021.
↑ Nemet was born in Serbia into an ethnic-Hungarian family and describes himself as Hungarian. He has worked in Serbia since 2008.
↑ Vesco was born in France. He has served as a bishop in Algeria since 2012.
↑ Mathieu was born in Belgium. He has served as a bishop in Iran since 2021.
↑ Bychok was born in Ukraine. He has served as a bishop in Australia since 2020.
↑ Farrell was born in Ireland. He was incardinated as a priest in the United States in 1984 and served as a bishop there from 2001 to 2016.
1 2 3 Granted dispensation not to receive episcopal consecration
↑ Becciu resigned the rights and privileges of a cardinal on 24September 2020, making him ineligible to participate in a conclave as an elector.[224][225]
↑ Czerny was born in Czechoslovakia (in what is now the Czech Republic). He moved to Canada as a child, and has served there and in the Roman Curia.
↑ Originally created a cardinal priest; appointed a cardinal bishop on 1October 2002[14]
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 19May 2018 and co-opted as a cardinal bishop on 28June 2018
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 29January 1996 and appointed a cardinal bishop on 25April 2005
↑ Originally created a cardinal priest; appointed a cardinal bishop on 10May 2008
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; appointed a cardinal bishop on 24February 2009
1 2 Originally created a cardinal priest; co-opted as a cardinal bishop on 28June 2018
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; co-opted as a cardinal bishop on 28June 2018
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; appointed a cardinal bishop on 1May 2020
↑ Originally created a cardinal priest; co-opted as a cardinal bishop on 1May 2020
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 29January 1996
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 1March 2008
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 20May 2006
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 21February 2011
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 12June 2014
↑ Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 20June 2016
1 2 3 4 Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 19May 2018
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 3May 2021
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 4March 2022
1 2 3 Originally created a cardinal deacon; became a cardinal priest on 1July 2024
Related Research Articles
A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. They are titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, thereby serving as the primary advisors to the Bishop of Rome. Cardinals are created by the pope and typically hold the title for life. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals. The most solemn responsibility of the cardinals is to elect a new pope in a conclave, almost always from among themselves, when the Holy See is vacant. During the period between a pope's death or resignation and the election of his successor, the day-to-day governance of the Holy See is in the hands of the College of Cardinals. The right to participate in a conclave is limited to cardinals who have not reached the age of 80 years by the day the vacancy occurs. In addition, cardinals collectively participate in papal consistories, in which matters of importance to the Church are considered and new cardinals may be created. Cardinals of working age are also appointed to roles overseeing dicasteries of the Roman Curia, the central administration of the Catholic Church.
Severino Poletto was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Turin from 1999 to 2010. A bishop since 1980, he was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001.
Josip Bozanić is a Croatian prelate of the Catholic Church who was the Archbishop of Zagreb from 1997 to 2023. He was previously Bishop of Krk from 1989 to 1997. He was made a cardinal in 2003.
Agostino Cacciavillan was an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, and a cardinal since 2001. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1959 to 1998; he was given the titles of archbishop and nuncio in 1998 and served as Pro-Nuncio to Kenya, India, Nepal, and the United States between 1976 and 1998. He then worked in the Roman Curia from 1998 to 2002 as President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See.
The papal conclave of 2005 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope John Paul II following his death on 2 April 2005. In accordance with the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the Holy See became vacant were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors invariably elected the pope from among their number. The election was carried out by secret ballot.
Carlos Amigo Vallejo, O.F.M. was a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Seville from 1982 to 2009. He was made a cardinal in 2003. He was archbishop of Tangier in Morocco from 1973 to 1982.
James Michael Harvey is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. Trained as a diplomat, he served from 1982 to 1998 in the central administration of the Holy See's Secretariat of State. From 1998 to 2012 Harvey managed the pope's household, first for Pope John Paul II and then for Pope Benedict XVI. He was named a bishop in 1998, an archbishop in 2003, and a cardinal in 2012.
Mauro Piacenza is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since 2010, he was Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary from 2013 to 2024. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 7 October 2010 to 21 September 2013. where he had been Secretary since 2007. At that Congregation, Pope Benedict XVI, according to one report, valued "his efficiency and in-depth knowledge of how the Congregation worked and its problems" and "his traditionalist ecclesiastical line of thought".
Francesco Marco Nicola Monterisi is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church, who worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1964 to 1998 and then held senior positions in the Roman Curia until he retired in 2014.
Angelo Comastri is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was Archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica from 2006 to 2021, and Vicar General for the Vatican City State and President of the Fabric of Saint Peter from 2005 to 2021. He previously served as Bishop of Massa Marittima-Piombino (1990–1994) and Territorial Prelate of Loreto (1996–2005). He was named a cardinal in 2007.
Giuseppe Bertello is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2012, who was President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State and President of the Governorate of Vatican City State from October 2011 to October 2021. He worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1971 to 2011; became an archbishop in 1987; held appointments as Nuncio to several countries, including Rwanda, Mexico, and Italy; and was the Holy See's representative to a number of international organizations.
Giuseppe Versaldi is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who was the prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education from 2015 until that body was merged into the new Dicastery for Culture and Education in 2022. He served as president of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See from 2011 to 2015. Before that he was Bishop of Alessandria. Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to the rank of cardinal on 18 February 2012.
Ricardo Ezzati Andrello is an Italian-born Chilean prelate of the Catholic Church who has lived and worked in Chile since the age of 17. He was Archbishop of Santiago from December 2010 to March 2019 and has been a cardinal since February 2014. He previously served as Archbishop of Concepción. He headed the Episcopal Conference of Chile from 2010 to 2016.
Domenico Calcagno is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been a bishop since 2002 and a cardinal since 2012. From 7 July 2011 to 26 June 2018 he was President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, where he had served as secretary since 2007.
Santos Abril y Castelló is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church. After a career in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See, he held a number of positions in the Roman Curia and from 2011 to 2016 was Archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The papal conclave of 2013 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Benedict XVI following his resignation on 28 February 2013. In accordance with the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the Holy See became vacant were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors invariably elect the pope from among their number. The election was carried out by secret ballot.
Pope Francis has created cardinals at ten consistories held at roughly annual intervals beginning in 2014, most recently on 7 December 2024. The cardinals created by Francis include 163 cardinals from 76 countries, 25 of which had never been represented in the College of Cardinals. His appointments include the first Scandinavian since the Reformation, the first from Goa since an episcopal see was established there in 1533, the first from Latin America's indigenous peoples, the first from India's Dalit class, and the first active head of a religious congregation.
Orlando Beltran Quevedo is a Filipino prelate of the Catholic Church. A cardinal since 2014, he was Archbishop of Cotabato from 1998 to 2018. He became a bishop in 1980.
Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, SDB is a Uruguayan Roman Catholic prelate and the archbishop of Montevideo.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
