Conclave has Most Cardinals, Widest Geographical Mix in History

by CNS · April 29, 2025

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, Italy, speaks to reporters as he approaches the Petriano entrance to the Vatican next to St. Peter’s Square to attend the fifth general congregation meeting of cardinals on April 28, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

By Carol Glatz, CNS – The conclave that begins May 7 is expected to be the largest in history, with a wide geographical mix of cardinal-electors.

While 115 cardinals took part in the conclaves in 2005 and 2013, 133 prelates were expected to walk into the Sistine Chapel to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

There are 135 cardinals under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a papal election, however, local church officials had notified the Vatican that Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the 79-year-old retired archbishop of Valencia, Spain, and Cardinal John Njue, the 79-year-old retired of archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya, were not coming to Rome due to health issues.

In case a cardinal-elector in Rome feels too ill to process into the Sistine Chapel, the rules governing the election of a new pope allow for three cardinals to leave the chapel to retrieve the ailing cardinal’s vote from his sickbed in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

The cardinals represent 71 different countries if one counts the nations where they are serving and not just where they were born. Take the example of three Italians: Cardinals Pierbattista Pizzaballa is the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem; Giorgio Marengo is the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Mario Zenari is the apostolic nuncio to Syria.

The participating cardinals’ average age on May 6 was 70.3. That is slightly younger than the average age of electors who participated in the last conclave in 2013, which was 71.8.

According “Universi Dominici Gregis,” the document giving rules for the election of a new pope, cardinals who celebrate their 80th birthday before the day the Apostolic See becomes vacant — that is, with a papal death or resignation — do not take part in the election.

The oldest among current voters is Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, the retired archbishop of Madrid, who turns 80 on May 16.

The youngest member of the conclave is 45-year-old Ukrainian-born Cardinal Mykola Bychok of the Ukrainian Eparchy of Sts. Peter and Paul of Melbourne, Australia. He is one of 17 Gen X cardinals, those born between 1965 and 1980.

Only five of the cardinals expected to enter the conclave were created cardinals by St. John Paul II and 20 were created by Pope Benedict XVI.

That means 25 of them took part in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, and five of those also participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict.

But that also means voting in a conclave will be a brand new experience for 108 of the electors.

While the geographical breakdown of conclave voters has become more diverse since 1978, Europeans are still the largest block. Fifty-one of the participating electors, or 38%, come from Europe.

However, Asia is more represented now than ever before with 24 electors or almost 18% of the total. There are 23 cardinal-electors representing Latin America, which is 17% of the total, followed by Africa with 17 electors. North America now trails behind Africa and Asia with 14 electors, representing 10.5%, and Oceania has four voting-age cardinals, 3% of the total.

In the country-by-country breakdown, Italy has 16 voting-age cardinals, followed by the United States with 10, representing 7.5% of the voting total.

Brazil has seven cardinals participating; France has five, and Spain, Poland, Portugal, India, Argentina and Canada have four each. England, Germany and the Philippines have three cardinal-electors each. Fifty-eight countries are represented with one or two cardinal-electors.

In terms of influence, the Vatican as an institution will be heavily represented, with 27 members of the Roman Curia voting in the conclave — 20.3% of the total.

Since a two-thirds majority of the cardinal-electors who participate is needed to elect a pope, if all the 133 electors present in Rome vote, there would need to be at least 89 votes for one candidate to emerge as the winner.

Among the voting-age cardinals, there are 33 members of religious orders, including: five Salesians, four Jesuits, four Franciscans and three Conventual Franciscans.