Cardinal electors who will not participate in the conclave to choose the successor of Pope Francis

Of the 135 voters (those under 80 years old) who are summoned to participate in the conclave to choose the next successor of San Pedro, two will not attend the Vatican for medical reasons.

Days ago, Fuentes del Arzbispido de Valencia (Spain) confirmed that his archbishop emeritus, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, “will not travel to Rome for health reasons.”

This Wednesday, April 30, the Vatican confirmed that the other absence for medical reasons will be that of Cardinal John Njue, archbishop emeritus of Nairobi (Kenya).

With these absences in the conclave, a majority of at least 89 votes will be required to choose the new pontiff.

For his part, Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop Emeritus of Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina), which he announced at the beginning of last week that he would not move to Rome, in the end he will go, after receiving the medical discharge.

Cardinal Cañizares was born on October 15, 1945 and was ordered presbyter in 1970 in the Archdiocese of Valencia. In 1992 he was ordered Bishop of Ávila, where he remained until he assumed the archdiocese of Granada in 1996. In 2002 he was transferred to the Primada Archdiocese of Spain, Toledo.

Created Cardinal in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, he was called to collaborate in the Curia as a prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the discipline of the Sacraments until, in 2014, he returned to Spain as archbishop of Valencia. He remained in that position until the acceptance of his resignation in 2022.

Cardinal John Njue was born on January 1, 1946. He was a professor of philosophy at the National Bungoma Seminar, Diocese of Kakmega, in 1975.

Subsequently it was his vice -rector and, finally, his rector. In 1982, he completed a course in spirituality in the United States and was the rector of the Meru Philosophy Seminar, in Nairobi.

He was appointed first bishop of Embu on June 9, 1986 by Pope John Paul II, and was consecrated on September 20, 1986 by Cardinal Joef Tomko, then Prefect of the Congregation for the evangelization of the peoples.

He was appointed Archbishop Coadjtor de Nyeri January 23, 2002, and Archbishop of Nairobi October 6, 2007. On November 27 of that year he was created Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.

On January 4, 2021, three days after turning 75, Pope Francis accepted his resignation to the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Nairobi.

Originally published on April 23, 2025. It has been updated for republication.