Some Notes on the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:

January 23, 2026 (#68)

 

Some Notes on the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church

 

Until recent times, the cardinals of the Catholic Church were often referred to as “Princes of the Church,” and in diplomatic circles were accorded the dignities afforded to secular, hereditary princes. While still understood as the senior clerics who serve at the pleasure of the pope, few if any of today’s members of the College of Cardinals would publicly seek to be treated with the pomp and splendor associated with the ancient traditions of royalty. Cardinals are “created” by the nomination of the current pope, at which time they are assigned to one of the three “orders” of the College of Cardinals: cardinal deacons, cardinal priests and cardinal bishops. Within each of these orders, new cardinals are assigned a “title,” symbolically associating them with the Roman Church. This practice is founded as early as the early Middle Ages, when the deacons of the seven districts of Rome came to be known as cardinal deacons, the senior priests of the principal parishes of the city came to be known as cardinal priests, and the bishops of the dioceses adjacent to Rome came to be known as cardinal priests. All of them became increasingly influential as advisors to the pope and found important roles in papal liturgies. Even now, for example, every cardinal priest is assigned as the “titular pastor” of a particular Roman church.

 

By the 12th century, the cardinals of the church, in all three orders, became the exclusive electors of the pope when that office was vacant. When they gather to exercise that right and obligation, they form what is called a “conclave.” The number of cardinals has varied greatly over the centuries. (Only seven cardinals participated in the conclave of 1277!) However, since the office itself is not of divine origin, the number, qualifications, and duties of cardinals can vary according to the needs of the Church and the legislation imposed by the current pope. Currently, a newly created cardinal must be ordained a bishop, if he is not already. But exceptions to that rule have been made (e.g., Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., in 2001). As recently as the nineteenth century, there were cardinals created who were never even ordained as priests much less bishops, often referred to as “lay cardinals.” (It was at the least expected that they would be admitted to the “clerical state” promptly).

 

A more monumental change in the College occurred in 1970, when Pope St. Paul VI decreed that the cardinals who reached the age of 80 before the election of a pope were ineligible to participate in the gathering of the cardinals for the election of the next pope. This allowed the pope to use the office of cardinal to honor octogenarians (or older) without making them electors. At that time, the same pope also set the maximum number of cardinal electors at 120. But that number has been superseded numerous times by subsequent pontiffs. As of January 4, 2026, there were 245 cardinals, the most ever in the history of the office, of whom 122 were eligible to vote in a conclave. This is also the first time that there are more cardinals who are not eligible to vote in a conclave than eligible electors. 133 cardinals participated in the conclave that elected the current pope, Leo XVI.

 

Some might find it interesting that at this time only about 20% of the current College of Cardinals are Italian-born. Italians have not formed a majority of the college since 1958. It has been the explicit will of the popes since the mid-20th century to “internationalize” the college. In recent centuries, it had become the practice to name the archbishops of large sees around the world to the College of Cardinals. Thus, for example, it became expected that the archbishop of Milan would always be named a cardinal. However, Pope Francis never named the current occupant of that historic and large see to the College, but he did so for the missionary bishop of Mongolia and the auxiliary bishop of San Salvador.

 

It has been widely noted that Pope Francis rarely gathered the cardinals in what is called a consistory in order to consult with them as Pope Leo just did (January 7-8, 2026). Pope Leo has also indicated his intention to hold a consistory annually. Francis, on the other hand, created a new group, called the Council of Cardinals, originally consisting of nine members, with whom he met regularly. They appear to have functioned as a kind of “kitchen cabinet” for his papacy. It is not publicly known whether Leo will continue that practice, or not.

 

Finally, cardinals can also be removed as members of the College, as occurred most recently to Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, DC, in 2018. And even more recently, another cardinal, Giovanni Angelo Becciu, was found guilty by a Vatican court of embezzlement and other charges and sentenced to more than five years imprisonment, on December 16, 2023. He remains a cardinal and free, awaiting the completion of the appeals process. He was excluded from the conclave that elected Pope Leo by the explicit decision of Pope Francis.