The number of electing cardinals was reduced to 130. The number of Italians had never been so numerous

Peruvian Cardinal Pedro R. Barreto Jimeno, Jesuit, 80 years oldwho on Monday, February 12, his birthday, witnessed the acceptance of his resignation as Archbishop of Huancayo, a diocese he has led since 2004. The Jesuit cardinal received the purple from Pope Francis in the Consistory of June 2018.

Consequently, the number of electing cardinals decreased to 130 out of a total of 239. Among the voters (excluding Angelo Becchio) there are 52 Europeans 14 Italians (just over 10%, the historical minimum in modern times). There are 21 Latin Americans, 15 North Americans, 22 Asians (also including Giorgio Marengo, head of the Apostolic State of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa), and 17 Africans (including the Spaniard Cristóbal López Romero, Archbishop of Rabat). , and 3 from Oceania.

The electorate created by Francis is now 95 years old27 from Benedict XVI and 8 from John Paul II. After Italy, the largest constituent among the cardinal electorate is the United States with 11. It is followed by Spain (8), Brazil and France (6 each), India (5), and Poland with Portugal and Canada (4 each). Germany and Argentina (3 each). Then there are two cardinal electors: Great Britain, Switzerland, Mexico, Tanzania, and the Philippines.

During 2024, 11 more cardinals will reach the age of 80 (4 created by Francis, 5 by Benedict XVI, and 2 by Pope Wojtyla). Among them are the Italian Mauro Piacenza (September 15), Polycarp Bingo (Tanzanian, August 5), John Njoy (Kenyan, whose birthday is not known traditionally, his “birthday” will be December 31), and the Asians Louis Marie Ling. Mangkhankhon (Laos, April 8), Oswald Gracias (India, December 24), Canadian Marc Ouellet (June 8), and American Sean Pei. O'Malley (June 29), and the Spaniard Luis F. LaDaria Ferrer (April 19). Frenchman Jean-Pierre Ricard (April 26), José L. Lacunza Maestrojuan (Panama, February 24), and Balthazar E. Boras Cardoso (Venezuela, October 10).

In December 2024, the number of electing cardinals will decrease to the maximum of 120 set by Paul VI. (And always respected) but still often surpassed, even by a large margin, by his successors (Francis after the last council set the record of 137, surpassing the 135 achieved by John Paul II in 2001 and 2003). But it is always possible that during the year Pope Bergoglio will decide to appoint new cardinals. In fact, Francis has held a church meeting in every year of his pontificate (except 2013 and 2020).

In 2025, 13 cardinals will reach the age of 80. Among them were not any Italians, but three Spaniards (Fernando Vergés Alzaga, Carlos Osoro Sierra, and Antonio Cañizares Lovera), three Africans (Philippe Ouedraogo, Robert Sara, and Jean-Pierre Cotois), two Asians (Jorge Alencheri, and Joseph Coates), then Austrian Christoph Schönborn, Chilean Celestino Os Braco, Polish Stanislaw Rilko, Croatian Vinko Puljic, English Vincent Gerard Nicholls.