Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome. They are typically ordained bishops and generally hold important roles within the church, such as leading prominent archdioceses or heading dicasteries within the Roman Curia. Cardinals are chosen by the pope and formally created in a consistory, and one of their foremost duties is the election of a new pope – invariably from among their number, although not strictly a requirement – when the Holy See is vacant ( sede vacante ), following the death or resignation of a pope. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals. [1] [2]
Under current ecclesiastical law, as defined by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis (1996), 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 cardinals may take part in a conclave, but makes no provision for there being more than 120 eligible cardinal electors, [3] a number that has often been exceeded. [4] Cardinals may be created in pectore (lit. '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] [5]
As of 8 September 2025, [update] there are 248 cardinals, 128 of whom are cardinal electors. The most recent consistory for the creation of cardinals was held on 7 December 2024, when Pope Francis created 21 cardinals, including 20 cardinal electors. [6] Vinko Puljić was the most recent cardinal elector to turn 80, on 8 September 2025; Antonio Cañizares Llovera will be the next cardinal elector to turn 80, on 14 October 2025. The most recent death of a cardinal was that of Estanislao Esteban Karlic on 8 August 2025, at the age of 99. [7]
The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders, with formal precedence in the following sequence: [1]
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 societies of apostolic life are indicated by the relevant post-nominal letters. Cardinals in pastoral ministry are classified under the country in which their respective dioceses are located, although they may be citizens of another country.
As of 8 September 2025, [update] 128 of 248 cardinals are eligible to participate in a papal conclave. The current threshold number of votes needed to be elected pope with the required two-thirds supermajority is 86, assuming that all 128 cardinal electors were to participate in a conclave(and notwithstanding the maximum of 120 electors specified in Universi Dominici gregis). [3] [249]
This table indicates the number of current cardinals created by each pope and belonging to each order of the college.
Pope | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | Name | CB | CP | CD | Total | CB | CP | CD | Total |
264 | John Paul II (1978–2005) | 5 | 36 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
265 | Benedict XVI (2005–2013) | 4 | 56 | 0 | 60 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 20 |
266 | Francis (2013–2025) | 3 | 111 | 33 | 147 | 2 | 83 | 19 | 104 |
Total | 12 | 203 | 33 | 248 | 4 | 105 | 19 | 128 | |
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 five cardinal electors, belonging to seven particular churches sui iuris:
Particular church sui iuris | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | |
---|---|---|---|
Latin Church (Western) | 240 | 123 | |
Eastern Churches | Chaldean Church | 1 | 1 |
Ethiopian Church | 1 | 1 | |
Maronite Church | 1 | 0 | |
Romanian Greek Church | 1 | 0 | |
Syro-Malabar Church | 2 | 1 | |
Syro-Malankara Church | 1 | 1 | |
Ukrainian Greek Church | 1 | 1 | |
Subtotal | 8 | 5 | |
Total | 248 | 128 | |
At present, there are 64 cardinals, including 32 cardinal electors, who are members of the religious life, representing 27 institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. In this table, the common name for the members of an institute or society, if different from its formal name, is given in brackets.
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. [250] The statistics for the global distribution of Catholics in the table below are sourced from the 2023edition [update] of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (Statistical Yearbook of the Church), published in 2025. [251]
Continent | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | Percentage of global Catholic population (2023) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | ||
Africa | 29 | 11.7% | 17 | 13.3% | 20.0% |
North America | 35 | 14.1% | 19 | 14.8% | 20.4% |
South America | 30 | 12.1% | 17 | 13.3% | 27.4% |
Asia | 37 | 14.9% | 22 | 17.2% | 11.0% |
Europe | 113 | 45.6% | 49 | 38.3% | 20.4% |
Oceania | 4 | 1.6% | 4 | 3.1% | 0.8% |
Total | 248 | 100.0% | 128 | 100.0% | 100.0% |
At present, 94 countries are represented in the College of Cardinals, including 68 with at least one cardinal elector. The countries with the greatest numbers of cardinals are Italy (51), the United States (16), and Spain (13). Among the cardinal electors, the countries with the greatest numbers are Italy (17), the United States (9), and Brazil (7).