Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals from around the world this Saturday, December 7, on the eve of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and as France prepares to celebrate the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
With the 21 new cardinals, the total number of cardinals will be 253, of which 113 are non-electors and 140 are electors, that is, those under 80 years of age who can participate in an eventual conclave to elect the new Pope.
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Of these 140 electors, 110 will have been created by Pope Francis, 24 by Pope Benedict XVI and 6 by Pope Saint John Paul II.
Of the total number of cardinals, the Press Office of the Vatican115 are from Europe, 37 from Asia, 29 from Africa, 68 from America (28 from North America, 8 from Central America and 32 from South America); and 4 from Oceania.
Among the cardinal electors, the youngest will be Bishop Mykola Bychok CSR, Bishop of the Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians, in Australia, at 44 years old; while the oldest, at 79 years old, will be Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, who will turn 80 on December 24 of this year.
The countries with the most cardinals
The country that has the most cardinals in the world is Italy with 53 cardinals, among whom is Angelo Acerbi, who at 99 years old is the oldest on the planet. Of the 53, 20 are cardinal electors and 33 are non-electors.
Italy is followed by the United States, with 17 in total, of which 10 are cardinal electors and 7 are non-electors. Spain continues on the list, with 6 elector cardinals and 7 non-elector cardinals, giving 13 in total.
The cardinals of Brazil are 8, with 7 electors; while those of Argentina are also 8, with four cardinal electors and 4 non-electors.
In France there are 8, with 5 voters; and in Germany and Portugal there are 6 in total, with 3 and 4 voters respectively.
In India there are 6 cardinals, with 5 electors; while in the Philippines, the country with the most Catholics in Asia, there are 5 cardinals in total, with 3 electors.
Mexico has 6 cardinals, with 2 electors; while Canada and Poland have 5, with 4 electors each.
Chile has 4 cardinals with 2 electors and 2 non-electors; The United Kingdom also has 4 cardinals in total, with 3 electors and 1 non-elector; and Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, has 4 cardinals, with only 1 elector.
Colombia, China and Peru each have 3 cardinals, with 1 cardinal elector in each of those countries.
The cardinal electors who will soon turn 80 years old
Along with Cardinal Gracias, other cardinals who will lose their status as electors during 2025 are Christoph Schönborn in January; Fernando Vérgez in March; George Alencherry and Celestino Aós, in April; Carlos Osoro in May; and Robert Sarah in June.
In the second half of 2025, Joseph Coutts and Stanyslaw Rylko will turn 80 in July; Vinko Puljic in September; Antonio Cañizares in October; and Vincent Nichols in November.
Walter Sánchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.