Following yesterday’s consistory the College of Cardinals consists of 228 members, 121 of whom are able to participate in a conclave to elect a new Pope. Most of these electors also have duties within the Roman Curia. Of the 17 new cardinals created yesterday, 13 are electors.
In his three consistories, Pope Francis has now created 55 living cardinals. The majority of cardinals alive today, 95, were created by Pope St. John Paul II. Among these is Pope Francis himself. Pope Benedict XVI has created 78 living cardinals, and there are two cardinals still alive from the pontificate of Blessed Pope Paul VI (one of whom is the Pope emeritus).
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The youngest cardinal, at 49, is Dieudonné Nzapalainga (right), the archbishop of Bangui, who was created by Pope Francis yesterday. The oldest is José de Jesús Pimiento Rodriguez, the 97-year-old Archbishop emeritus of Manizales. He was also created by Pope Francis in the consistory of 2015.
The longest serving cardinal is Paolo Evaristo Arns, Archbishop emeritus of São Paulo. He was created in 1973, and as the most senior cardinal-priest he has the function of protopriest.
The most senior cardinal, as decided by rank in the College and date of creation, is the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano. Most junior are the three cardinal-deacons created yesterday, Cardinals Mario Zenari, Kevin Farrell and Ernest Simoni.
The country with the largest number of cardinals remains Italy. 46 cardinals, including 25 electors, call that country home. This is followed by the United States (18 cardinals), Spain (12), Brazil (11), Germany (10), France (9), Mexico (6), India (5), Poland (5), and Argentina, Colombia and the Philippines (4 each). While Europe is still overrepresented in the College of Cardinals, other continents are catching up. The Americas have 62 cardinals between them, and Africa and Asia both have 24.
The vast majority of cardinal electors, 72 of them, are archbishops (metropolitan or otherwise) of an archdiocese somewhere in the world. Eight electors are retired archbishops. There are six regular bishops among the electors, two patriarchs, one nuncio and 31 work in the Roman Curia. A final cardinal elector is retired Curia member. These numbers are bound to be inaccurate within weeks of posting this, as there are more than a few cardinals on the verge of retirement.
