Cardinals follow the ceremony during the ordinary public consistory for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, Dec. 7, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Rome Newsroom, Dec 8, 2024 / 18:36 pm (CNA).
A record 140 cardinals may attend an eventual conclave in the Sistine Chapel. There would have been 141, but Cardinal Miguel Angel Ayuso Guixot’s death on November 25 reduced the number by one. In all, the Sacred College now has 255 members.
The number of cardinal electors is the most critical data point to emerge from this weekend’s consistory. Of the 140 cardinal electors, 110 have been created by Pope Francis, 24 by Benedict XVI, and six by St. John Paul II. At the end of the year, on December 24, Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, created cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2007, will reach 80 years of age and will, therefore, no longer be able to participate in a conclave.
Another 14 cardinals will turn 80 in 2025. They are Cardinals Christoph Schoenborn, Fernando Vergez Alzaga, Celestino Aos Braco, George Alencherry, Carlos Osoro Sierra, Robert Sarah, Stanislaw Rylko, Joseph Coutts, Vinko Pulhić, Antonio Canizares Llovera, Vincent Nichols, Jean-Pierre Kutwa, Nakellentuba Ouédraogo and Timothy Radcliffe.
Two of these were created by St. John Paul II, four by Benedict XVI and eight by Pope Francis.
However, it will be necessary to wait until May 2026 to return to the figure of 120 cardinal electors established by St. Paul VI and never abrogated.
Pope Francis’s choices
For the first time, there is now a cardinal in Iran, Archbishop Dominique Matthieu of Tehran-Ispahan, a Belgian missionary. It is also the first time there is a cardinal in Serbia, with Archbishop Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade receiving the red hat.
Pope Francis has created cardinals from 72 different nations, and 24 of those nations have never had a cardinal before.
Pope Francis has also shown that he does not choose based on the traditional seats of cardinals. For example, there are no cardinals to lead the two historic European patriarchates of Lisbon and Venice, nor in Milan, Florence, or Paris.
There are exceptions, however. In this consistory, Pope Francis created cardinals in the archbishops of Turin, Naples, Lima, Santiago de Chile, Toronto, and the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.
Naples entered the list somewhat surprisingly, with the pope’s decision communicated in a statement from the Holy See Press Office on November 4. Archbishop Battaglia of Naples replaced Bishop Bruno Syukur of Bogor, Indonesia, who had asked Pope Francis to remove him from the list of new cardinals for unspecified personal reasons.
The geographical balance of the College of Cardinals
The pope did not decide to replace a possible Indonesian cardinal with another cardinal from Asia.
Meanwhile, the percentage of Italian cardinals in the College of Cardinals is the lowest ever, at least in modern times. Only during the so-called Avignon Captivity (1309-1377) was the percentage of Italian cardinals so low.
However, to Italy’s 17 must be added Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is included in the quota of Asia, and Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, ordinary of Mongolia, also in Asia.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu is instead considered a non-elector, but this status is still being determined. Pope Francis had asked him to renounce his prerogatives as a cardinal but has continued to invite him to consistories and Masses, where he has always sat among the cardinals. If a decision is not made before then, the College of Cardinals, with a majority vote, will decide whether or not Cardinal Becciu will be admitted to the conclave.
Regional distribution
The balance crucially stays the same. Europe has received three more cardinals, in addition to the four Italians with the right to vote: Archbishop Ladislav Nemet of Belgrade (58 years old), Archbishop Rolandas Makrickas (52), coadjutor archpriest of the papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore since March, and Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe (79). Europe now has 55 cardinals.
Latin America has received five new cardinals. The purple has arrived in dioceses that have received it several times — with Archbishop Carlos Gustavo Castillo Mattasoglio (74) in Lima and Archbishop Fernando N. Chomali Garib (67) in Santiago de Chile — or only once — with Archbishop Luis Gerardo Cabrera Herrera (69) in Guayaquil, Ecuador and Archbishop Jaime Spengler (64, who is also president of CELAM) in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The red birretta to Archbishop Vicente Bokalic Iglic (72) of Santiago del Estero is also a first. However, in this case, the ground had already been prepared by the recent decision to move the title of primate of Argentina from Buenos Aires to this seat. Overall, Latin America now has 24 cardinals (including Cardinal Celestino Aos Braco, emeritus of Santiago de Chile, born in Spain).
Asia has received four new cardinals. The pope gave the red hat to Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, 66, and to the bishops of two dioceses that have never had a cardinal at the helm: Bishop Pablo Vigilio Siongo David, 65, of Kalookan in the Philippines and Archbishop Dominique Joseph Mathieu, 61, of Tehran.
Africa has received two new cardinals, bringing the continent’s total to 18. The two new ones are Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, 62, in Algiers, and Archbishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, 63, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
North America now has 14 electors, with the addition of Toronto Archbishop Francis Leo (53). Oceania has four electors, with the creation of Bishop Mykola Bychok of the eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul in Melbourne of the Ukrainians as cardinal. At 44, he has become the youngest member of the College of Cardinals.
National representation
Italy remains the most represented nation in the conclave, with 17 electors (plus two more in Asia). The United States has 10 cardinal electors, and Spain has 7 (with another 3 in Morocco, Chile, and France).
Brazil has increased to 7 electors, and India to 6 electors. France remains at 5 electors, to which Archbishop Vesco in North Africa has been added. Cardinal François-Xavier Bustillo, bishop of Ajaccio, is anagraphically Spanish although naturalized French.
Argentina and Canada join Poland and Portugal with four cardinal electors, while Germany is tied with the Philippines and Great Britain with three.
The weight of cardinal electors engaged in the Curia, in other Roman roles or the nunciatures, has decreased, like that of the Italians. They will be 34 out of 140, a historic low.
Of the 21 new cardinals, 10 (all electors) belong to religious orders and congregations, another record. The number of religious electors in the Sacred College has risen from 27 to 35. The Friars Minor joined the Salesians at five and surpassed the Jesuits, who remain at 4. The Franciscan family grows to 10 electors (5 Minors, 3 Conventuals, and 2 Capuchins). The Lazarists and Redemptorists rise to 2.
What would a possible conclave be like?
As of December 8, Pope Francis has created 78% of the cardinals who can vote in a conclave. This means that the cardinals created by Pope Francis far exceed the two-thirds majority needed to elect a pope.
This does not necessarily mean that the conclave will be “Francis-like.” Not only do the new cardinals all have very different profiles, but they have yet to have much opportunity to get to know each other. Popes have also used consistories to bring together cardinals to discuss issues of general interest.
Pope Francis had done so only three times: in 2014, when the family was discussed; in 2015, when the topic was the reform of the Curia; and in 2022, when the apostolic constitution Praedicate Evangelium, or the reform of the Curia now defined and promulgated, was discussed.
In this last meeting, the cardinals were divided into linguistic groups, with fewer opportunities to speak in the assembly together. This scenario makes the vote very uncertain.
Another fact that should be noted is that until St. John Paul II’s election, the cardinals gathered in the conclave were housed in makeshift accommodations in the Apostolic Palace near the Sistine Chapel. John Paul II had the Domus Sanctae Marthae (St. Martha House) renovated precisely to guarantee the cardinals who would elect his successor more adequate accommodations.
Today, however, Pope Francis lives in the Domus Sanctae Marthae. This means that, upon the pope’s death, at least the floor where the pontiff lives must be sealed, as the papal apartment is sealed. Sealing a floor of the Domus also means losing a considerable number of rooms. And with such a high number of voters, it also means risking not having enough rooms to accommodate all the cardinals.
The electors could be placed in vacant apartments within Vatican City State. This, however, would make them even more isolated. In practice, there is a risk that, during the conclave, the cardinals would not always be able to be together to discuss the election.
For these reasons, although Pope Francis has created more than two-thirds of the cardinal electors, it is by no means certain that the pope chosen in a future conclave will have the same profile as Pope Francis.
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Don’t worry Angelo! Francis will have you out in no time! Unless you happen to have conservative or traditional leanings. In that case, good luck in the big house.
To be sure, there were several stupid business dealings, like London. But where was the theft? And didn’t the Pope approve everything?
Will we ever know where the millions went in Australia? Cardinal Pell deserved to know. What a mess.
“Loans” to family members that didn’t have to be paid back under the rationale that it would be good for the local economies where they would spend the money. Sort of like Obamanomics.
Where do you send a Cardinal to jail?
A different angle on the story: prisons and apartments. Francis has broken with his predecessors who, as Bishops of Rome, used to celebrate Holy Thursday Evening Mass for the diocese in his cathedral, St. John Lateran. Francis has delegated that job to a substitute while he does his “peripheries” thing in assorted Roman jails. Except in 2021, when he celebrated that Mass in Becciu’s apartment (in the middle of his trial). So, maybe Becciu can serve his “sentence” under “house arrest,” “accompanied” to his apartment (unless the Pope kicks him out) by the Pope who insists on living in a hotel room. Maybe we had a preview of what “peripheral accompaniment” of a poor Cardinal means?
$11K fine for a cardinal who apparently lost millions? Good deal. Papal economics?
From From 10 Vatican City Facts You Didn’t Know:
Excerpt:
2. Vatican City Has No Prison
Vatican City is likely the only nation on Earth to not have a prison. The country does have a few cells for pre-trial detention. Those convicted and sentenced to imprisonment serve time in Italian prisons as per the Lateran Treaty. The costs for imprisonment are covered by the Vatican government.
P.S.: Will Becciu be removed from the College of Cardinals while he does his time? After all, Francis insists that sexual sins are not necessarily the most serious (which, in one sense, may be true), yet he laicized McCarrick.
I am growing convinced the Polish National Catholics under Hodur, in advocating for trusteeship, were right. In a normal, democratic society (e.g., Western societies where the state’s reach into the Church is limited) there should be clear lines of separation between finance and power, not the “corporate sole” nonsense that allows Bishops to do whatever they want with the money of the People of God. Require an accountability board the majority of whose members are NOT episcopally removable (at least immediately) to approve expenditures. THAT would (a) create financial transparency AND (b) end “clericalism” by taking away a significant clerical prerogative: unlimited financial decision-making. Next time some bishop babbles about “reform” and “declericalization as Pope Francis urges” ask him (and Francis) whether they’d be willing to sign on to this financial divestment. If you can’t get a “yes” or “no” (as opposed to qualificatiosn and equivocations), call out the hot air.
The answer is not schismatic Polish National Catholic-style lay trusteeship, especially with today’s vast majority of liberal and heretical Catholics-in-name-only who do not even recognize the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. If one wants a sure recipe for disaster that is it. The answer is rather holy, orthodox, and traditional Catholic bishops and priests whose love is for Christ Crucified, not t
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That includes absolute financial power. Ask the Apostolic Treasurer, Judas. Episcopal ordination does not remove those temptations.
There’s no need for the bishop to be the sole agent who disposes of Church’s funds. If the “People of God” are the Church, there’s no reason bishops should not have to convince other people to fund their projects. They may have total responsibility in teaching. That does not imply “one signature is enough” on checks.
Yes, let’s give “financial power” to the holy fornicating, shacking-up, contracepting, aborting, pro-homosexual, and transsexual “People of God” who every recent CARA survey shows are overwhelmingly the majority of modern American “Catholics”. Let’s have Paul and Nancy Pelosi and Joe and Jill Biden as the Apostolic Treasurers. Let’s add another downward spiral to the catastrophic state of the Catholic Church. Let patron saint be Judas since he is already their model.
Yes, I agree that establishing trusteeship is a big part of what would be an “actual reform in the Church.”
The fact that it doesn’t exist, and is not being vigorously pursued, puts the Church into the hands of frauds and thieves.
All the talk of “the reform” by the sitting Pontiff and his Cardinals and Bishops is rubbish until the true reform indicated by actions like trusteeship arrangements.
We continue to hear “poverty-pimping” about the Church’s “preferential option for the poor.”
It was voiced by “His Eminence” Beccui himself, on the night he stood on the balcony in Rome next to the Pontiff Francis, moments before his introduction to the world, he reminded the new Pontiff to “remember the poor.”
These characters are the supreme carnival…
Speaking of prosecuting the criminally stupid, did this show trial cost a million? How can anyone donate to this pontificate?
At least Cardinal Becciu will have housing and an assured means of sustaining his human needs. That’s more than Francis afforded Cardinal Burke. Maybe the best punishment for Becciu would be to kick him out into the streets, strip him of his financial support and tell him to get out of Rome and return to wherever he came from. I do have in mind one other bishop who ought to vacate the Vatican precincts.
Having been born on the island of Sardinia, Beccui likely could exist substantively on a small island. Where is there a small island large enough to accommodate a table, toilet, and a tall banana tree or two? Bergoglio could visit the island’s periphery, maybe even keep Beccui perpetual company. Such digs could well be their best before Someone requires the two to move one last time.
You’ve made my day!
What has become of the millions and the apartment in London?
Do these dignitaries pack them for their post-mortem trip?
Vanitas vanitaties and omnia sunt vanitas.
The Pope approved these stooges. They should all go to jail for not buying ETFs! A fool and his money are soon parted…🤦🏼♂️ (All this episcopal incompetence reminds me of how the Texas Bishops lobby in Austin, save Strickland…)
“Prosecutors allege the second broker, Gianluigi Torzi, hoodwinked the Vatican by maneuvering to secure full control of the building that he relinquished only when the Vatican paid him off 15 million euros (with the Pope’s approval!)… a British judge rejected Vatican requests to seize Torzi’s assets — it was a negotiated exit from a legally binding contract…Torzi’s whereabouts weren’t immediately known.”
Have they looked for Torzi in the Cayman Islands? Maybe he paid Cecilia Marogna to join him for her “intelligence services?” Who knows, maybe they are with Australian friends, trying to free a nun on Seven Mile Beach?
What do you get for misleading the faithful into heresy? Mortal sin?
Jesus came to save the sinner, lest we forget.
There is that warning about leading the little ones to sin and a millstone would have been a better option
If the result is unfair may the Holy Father catch it in time and commute the sentence or quash the conviction.
This is beyond disgraceful, whoever is responsible – Becciu or Parra.
Has there been any comment from the Pope about this?