Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. They are almost always bishops and generally hold important roles within the church, such as leading prominent archdioceses or heading dicasteries within the Roman Curia. Cardinals are created in consistories by the pope, 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. The body of all cardinals is collectively known as the College of Cardinals.[1] [2]
Under current ecclesiastical law, as defined by the apostolic constitution Universi 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] 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 their identities are not publicly revealed by the pope; they are not entitled to the privileges of a cardinal until their names are published. The creations of any such cardinals who have not been revealed at the pope's death or resignation automatically lapse.[1] [4]
there are 232 cardinals, 120 of whom are cardinal electors. The most recent consistory for the creation of cardinals was held on 30 September 2023, when Pope Francis created 21 cardinals, including 18 cardinal electors.[5] A consistory is scheduled for 7 December 2024 to create 21 cardinals, including 20 cardinal electors.[6] [7] [8] Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo was the most recent cardinal elector to turn 80, on 10 October 2024; Oswald Gracias will be the next cardinal elector to turn 80, on 24 December 2024. The most recent death of a cardinal was that of Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot on 25 November 2024, at the age of 72.[9]
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 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.
On 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced that 21 cardinals, including 20 cardinal electors, would be created in a consistory to be held on 8 December 2024.[16] The date of the consistory was changed to 7 December 2024 on 12 October 2024.[7] On 22 October 2024 the Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Francis has accepted the request of Paskalis Bruno Syukur, Bishop of Bogor in Indonesia, not to be created a cardinal.[8] The orders to which the appointees will belong have not been announced; they are listed here in the order they were announced.[16]
At present, of cardinals are eligible to participate in a papal conclave. The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority,[3] [17] if all cardinal electors were to participate, would be .
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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Total | Total | |||||||
| 264 | John Paul II (1978–2005) | 5 | 36 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 265 | Benedict XVI (2005–2013) | 4 | 59 | 0 | 63 | 2 | 22 | 0 | 24 |
| 266 | Francis (2013–present) | 3 | 95 | 30 | 128 | 2 | 70 | 18 | 90 |
| Total | 12 | 190 | 30 | 4 | 98 | 18 | |||
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 six Eastern Catholic cardinals, including four cardinal electors, belonging to six particular churches sui iuris:
| Particular church sui iuris | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin Church (Western) | 226 | 116 | |
| Eastern Churches | Chaldean Church | 1 | 1 |
| Ethiopian Church | 1 | 1 | |
| Maronite Church | 1 | 0 | |
| Romanian Greek Church | 1 | 0 | |
| Syro-Malabar Church | 1 | 1 | |
| Syro-Malankara Church | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 6 | 4 | |
| Total | |||
At present, there are 58 cardinals, including 27 cardinal electors, who are members of the religious life, representing 27 institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. Common names for members, if different, are given in brackets in this table.
| Post-nominal | Institute or society | All cardinals | Cardinal electors |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 1 | ||
| Institute of Consolata Missionaries | 1 | 1 | |
| Institute of Schönstatt Fathers | 1 | 0 | |
| Pius X Secular Institute | 1 | 1 | |
| Voluntas Dei Institute | 1 | 0 | |
| Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ | 1 | 1 | |
| 1 | 0 | ||
| Missionaries of the Sacred Heart | 1 | 1 | |
| Order of Augustinian Recollects | 1 | 0 | |
| Order of Discalced Carmelites | 1 | 1 | |
| Order of Cistercians | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | 2 | ||
| 5 | 2 | ||
| 2 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 3 | 2 | ||
| 1 | 1 | ||
| 1 | 0 | ||
| 11 | 5 | ||
| 9 | 4 | ||
| None | Secular clergy | 175 | 93 |
| Total | |||
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.[18] Statistics for the global distribution of Catholics are taken from the of the Latin: Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae (Statistical Yearbook of the Church).[19]
| Continent | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | Percentage of global Catholic population | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | ||
| Africa | 27 | 16 | 19% | ||
| North America | 35 | 19 | 21% | ||
| South America | 27 | 13 | 27% | ||
| Asia | 33 | 21 | 11% | ||
| Europe | 107 | 48 | 21% | ||
| Oceania | 3 | 3 | 1% | ||
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100% | ||
At present, 89 countries are represented in the College of Cardinals, including 65 with at least one cardinal elector. The countries with the greatest numbers of cardinals are Italy (forty-seven), the United States (seventeen), and Spain (thirteen). Among the cardinal electors, the countries with the greatest numbers are Italy (thirteen), the United States (ten), and Spain and Brazil (six each).
| Country | Continent | All cardinals | Cardinal electors | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| Argentina | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 7 | 3 |
| Austria | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Bangladesh | Asia | 1 | 0 | |
| Belgium | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Bolivia | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 1 | 0 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Brazil | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 7 | 6 |
| Burkina Faso | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Canada | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 4 | 3 |
| Cape Verde | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Central African Republic | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Chile | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 3 | 1 |
| Colombia | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 3 | 1 |
| Cuba | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 1 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Croatia | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Czech Republic | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| Dominican Republic | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 0 |
| East Timor | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| El Salvador | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 0 |
| Ethiopia | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| France | Europe | 8 | 5 | |
| Germany | Europe | 6 | 3 | |
| Ghana | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Guatemala | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 1 |
| Guinea | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Haiti | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 1 |
| Honduras | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 0 |
| data-sort-value="Asia" | Asia | 3 | 1 | |
| Hungary | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| India | Asia | 5 | 5 | |
| Indonesia | Asia | 2 | 1 | |
| Iraq | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Ireland | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| Italy | Europe | 47 | 13 | |
| Ivory Coast | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Japan | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Jerusalem | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Kenya | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| South Korea | Asia | 2 | 1 | |
| Laos | Asia | 1 | 0 | |
| Latvia | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| Lebanon | Asia | 1 | 0 | |
| Lithuania | Europe | 2 | 0 | |
| Luxembourg | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Madagascar | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Malaysia | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Mali | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| Malta | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Mauritius | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| Mexico | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 6 | 2 |
| Mongolia | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Morocco | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Mozambique | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| Myanmar | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Netherlands | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| New Zealand | Oceania | 1 | 1 | |
| Nicaragua | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 1 |
| Nigeria | Africa | 4 | 1 | |
| Pakistan | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Panama | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 1 | 0 |
| Paraguay | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 1 | 1 |
| Papua New Guinea | Oceania | 1 | 1 | |
| Peru | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 2 | 0 |
| Philippines | Asia | 4 | 2 | |
| Poland | Europe | 5 | 4 | |
| Portugal | Europe | 6 | 4 | |
| Romania | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| Rwanda | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Senegal | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| Singapore | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Slovenia | Europe | 1 | 0 | |
| South Africa | Africa | 2 | 1 | |
| South Sudan | Africa | 1 | 1 | |
| Spain | Europe | 13 | 6 | |
| Sri Lanka | Asia | 1 | 1 | |
| Sudan | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| Sweden | Europe | 1 | 1 | |
| Switzerland | Europe | 2 | 2 | |
| Tanzania | Africa | 2 | 1 | |
| Thailand | Asia | 2 | 1 | |
| Tonga | Oceania | 1 | 1 | |
| Uganda | Africa | 1 | 0 | |
| United Kingdom | Europe | 3 | 2 | |
| United States | data-sort-value="America, North" | North America | 17 | 10 |
| Uruguay | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 1 | 1 |
| Venezuela | data-sort-value="America, South" | South America | 2 | 0 |
| Vietnam | Asia | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | ||||
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