The number of cardinal electors is expected to decrease from 125 to 114 members.
Newsroom (03/01/2023 10:07, Gaudium Press) In 2023, 11 cardinals – 5 Italians, one Czech, one from Bangladesh, one Argentine, one Korean, one Malian, and one Peruvian – will lose their right to participate in a conclave because they will reach the canonical age of 80. Barring an unexpected death or the appointment of new cardinals by Pope Francis, the number of cardinal electors is therefore expected to drop from 125 to 114 members. This will record a decline in the Italian presence for a future conclave. In fact, the number of Italian cardinals called to elect the future pope will drop from 19 to 14.
Here are the cardinals who will cease to be electors by the end of 2023:
Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa from 2006 to 2020, President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference for two five-year terms (2007-2017).
Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, former President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) from 2011 to 2018.
Cardinal Dominik Duka, former Provincial of the Dominicans of Czechoslovakia, Archbishop of Prague from 2010 to 2022.
Italian Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Archbishop of Naples.
Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, responsible for the Prefecture for Economic Affairs (2011-2015) before the absorption of this organization by the Secretariat for the Economy, Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education from 2015 to 2022.
Italian Cardinal Angelo Comastri, Archbishop-Prelate of Loreto, Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica from 2006 to 2021.
Bangladeshi Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario, Religious of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, Archbishop of Dacca.
Argentinean Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, former Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches from 2007 to 2022.
Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (South Korea), Archbishop of Seoul from 2012 to 2021.
Cardinal Jean Zerbo (Mali), Archbishop of Bamako
Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne (Peru), Archbishop of Lima.
This could open the way for a new consistory to renew the Sacred College. Indeed, of these current 125 cardinal electors, 81 have been nominated by Francis.
The theoretical limit on the number of cardinal electors was set by Paul VI at 120 members, but successive popes since John Paul II have exceeded that limit on several occasions.
Compiled by Florence MacDonald
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