Among the cardinals, who have the right to vote?

It is among the current cardinals of the Church that the future bishop of Rome is located. Of the 252 members of the Cardinalice College, there are 135 to be “cardinal voters”, that is to say to be under the age of 80, the maximum age fixed by Paul VI in 1970 to have the right to elect the pontiff and to be elected.

Among them, 110, 80 %, were created cardinals by François during his pontificate. 23 were by Benoît XVI, his predecessor, and 5 by John Paul II, died in 2005. To be elected Pope, it is necessary to collect at least two thirds of the votes. The conclave will take place within fifteen to twenty days.

A very European college

The vast majority of these cardinals, likely to be elected, come from Europe. However, François’ pontificate was an opportunity to increase the relative place of other continents in electoral college: Europe has lost six cardinals (from 60 to 53), while all other geographic areas have seen their workforce increase.

Among them, Asia has won the most members, going from 10 cardinals at the start of the Pontificate of François, at 23 in 2025. By comparison, at the time of the election of François in 2013 – the first South American pope in the history of the church – only sixteen cardinals came from South and central America, out of 115 voters. A geographic over -representation among voters who therefore predicts anything from the nationality of the future Pope.

Five French cardinals will vote

France has five cardinals voters: François Bustillo, Archbishop of Ajaccio, Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the apostolic signature-and who will also be responsible for announcing the name of the new pope, if himself is not elected-, Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille and future president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Jean-Pierre Ricard, former Archbishop of Bordeaux Pierre, apostolic nuncio in the United States, and Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop Emeritus of Lyon.