Pope Francis’ cardinal picks bring new voices to the conclave

Jonah McKeown By Jonah McKeown for CNA

May 2, 2025 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

 

Cardinals participate in the fifth Novendiales Mass for Pope Francis on April 30, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

CNA Staff, May 2, 2025 / 13:49 pm (CNA).

The conclave to elect Pope Francis’ successor will begin on May 7. (Here’s a detailed explanation of how the process will work.) Over 130 cardinal electors will vote in the conclave, the largest group of cardinal electors ever.

It is also arguably the most diverse group of electors ever, geographically speaking. The proportion of cardinal electors from Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and countries in Europe — countries that are not the historically heavily represented Italy — has grown since the last conclave in 2013.

Pope Francis during his 12-year pontificate elevated a large majority of the current cardinal electors, some of whom serve countries with very small Catholic populations, such as Pakistan, Iran, and Mongolia. In all, Francis appointed cardinals from 72 different nations, including from over two dozen countries that had never before had a cardinal in the Church’s history, such as Haiti, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Singapore, and South Sudan.

A closer look at the numbers — taking the estimated number of Catholics in a country and dividing them by the number of cardinal electors — gives some idea of how “represented” that country’s Catholic community will be in the conclave. The smaller the resulting number, the more “representation” those Catholics get in the conclave via the cardinal or cardinals who serve them.

The caveat, of course, is that the Catholic Church isn’t a representative democracy, so although it’s an interesting thought exercise, it’s not accurate to say that a cardinal is a “representative” of the area entrusted to him in the same way that, say, a U.S. member of Congress is.

For example, Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world at 105,300,000 and seven cardinal electors. This means each elector “represents” 15,043,000 Catholics in Brazil — a pretty big number.

In contrast, Iran has a mere 13,600 Catholics but one cardinal elector. Thus Iran’s ratio is 13,600 Catholics per elector, which is — at least on paper — better than Brazil’s.

See CNA article for full graphic.

In terms of raw numbers, Italy has the largest number of electors of any country, with 17 cardinals currently set to participate. But raw numbers can be deceiving. Italy also has a huge number of Catholics, meaning that each cardinal elector “represents” about 2,471,000 Catholics. This places Italy at No. 33 on the list of most “represented” countries.

So which country has the most representation, proportionally, at the conclave? That would be Mongolia, which has a tiny but devout Catholic population of 1,116 and one cardinal elector, the Italian-born Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, who is also one of the youngest cardinal electors. Mongolia’s ratio of 1,116 Catholics per elector gives its Catholics an outsized “voice” within the conclave.

By contrast, take a look at Mexico. Its Catholic population is massive, at some 91,200,000. But for such a large Catholic country, Mexico has only two cardinal electors. That means each elector speaks for 45,600,000 Catholics, the least proportional representation among countries with electors.

If you’re wondering where the United States falls in this analysis: The U.S. has 10 cardinal electors, the second-most of any country in terms of raw numbers. But the country’s large Catholic population of nearly 67 million drops it to 56th place in the rankings, at nearly 6.7 million Catholics per elector.

(The exact number of cardinals may change between now and the start of the conclave, as two cardinals have already voluntarily dropped out due to illness, but the numbers almost certainly won’t change drastically.)

Of course, some countries with historically large Catholic populations will have no representation in the conclave at all because of a lack of cardinal electors. One notable example is Ireland (though Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, is Irish-born but has ministered for many years in the United States). Others include Vietnam, Lebanon, Mozambique, Mauritius, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras.

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Pope to future Romanian priests: seminary is your ‘gym’ for ministry

May 5, 2017 CNA Daily News 0

Vatican City, May 5, 2017 / 10:41 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Friday Pope Francis told seminarians studying in Rome to resist complacency and to think of their studies as strength training for their hearts and wills, preparing them for service to others.

“Your College is increasingly a ‘gym’ where you work out to give your life with willingness; your studies are tools of service for the Church, which also embellish the rich cultural tradition of your beloved country,” he said May 5 to the community of the Pontifical Romanian College.

“To treasure, through prayer and intense study, what the Lord has done in his People, is a beautiful opportunity in the years you spend in Rome, where you can breathe the universality of the Church.”

Pope Francis met with the community at the Vatican’s Consistory Hall to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the college’s founding.

In his speech, the Pope reflected on the history of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church of the Byzantine rite which came into full union with the Bishop of Rome in 1700.

In the 20th century the Church was persecuted under communism and forced underground, only re-emerging 40 years later after the fall of the communist regime in 1990.

After these difficulties, the Church in Romania is now experiencing a “beautiful rebirth,” Francis said, with new challenges to face. But “this story, made of great witnesses of faith and moments of trial, of severe winters and of flourishing springs, belongs to you,” he said.

It is good to remember this story, not as way to stay stuck in the past, but embracing each era of the Church as it comes, always remaining open to the actions of the Holy Spirit, the Pope continued.

Remembering the recent history of the Church in Romania will help them to overcome the temptation to settle for mediocrity, trying to lead “a ‘normal’ life,” Francis said, “where everything is without impetus and ardor, and where sooner or later you end up becoming the jealous keepers of your time, your security, your well-being.”

Instead, he urged them, aspire to a “passionate ministry” encouraged by the examples of your great witnesses of the faith.

“A Shepherd, as a disciple configured to Christ who gave his life ‘until the end’ (John 13:1), cannot allow himself to come to terms with a mediocre life or to adapt to situations without risking anything.”

“To guard over the memory, then, is not simply to remember the past, but to lay the foundation for the future, for a hopeful future,” he said.

In addition to preserving the memory of the Church in their country, Pope Francis encouraged them to cultivate hope, saying it was his second wish for them.

“There is so much need to nourish Christian hope, that hope which gives a new outlook, capable of discovering and seeing good, even when it is obscured by evil,” he said.

In the liturgy during the Easter season we hear from the Acts of the Apostles how the early Church “persevered in prayer, communion, and charity,” the Pope said. They never lost sight of hope, and gave it to the world, “even when it is without means, unfinished and opposed.”

“I wish your home to be a cenacle where the Spirit plants missionaries of hope, infectious bearers of the presence of the Risen Lord, courageous in creativity and never disheartened to problems and shortages of means,” he said.

“May the Holy Spirit also arouse in you the desire to seek and promote, with purified heart, the path of concord and unity among all Christians.”

Pope Francis then turned to those present from the Pontifical College of St. Ephrem, which hosts student priests of the Eastern Catholic Churches who speak Arabic, and who are welcomed by the Pontifical Romanian College.

“By meeting you, I think of the situation in which there are so many faithful in your lands, many families, who are forced to leave their home in the face of the collapse of waves of violence and suffering,” he said.

“These brothers and sisters I want to embrace in a special way, together with their Patriarchs and Bishops.”

[…]

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