College of Cardinals — Detailed Demographics (October 25, 2009)

by: Anura Guruge

Status quo reigned over the College for the last three months. October 24 saw the first material change since July 17. Italian Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino (b. Nov. 23, 1932), who had been the President of the  Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace since October 2002 resigned that day … he being well over the retirement age of 75 for curial cardinals. He had already resigned another post earlier this year. Sixty one year old Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, of Ghana, has been appointed the new President — making him the youngest of the curial cardinals.

On July 17, 2009, Cardinal Jean Margéot (Mauritius), a cardinal priest since 1988, died at the age of 93. The last cardinal to die prior to that was the Italian, Franciscan Cardinal Umberto Betti on April 1, 2009, at the age of 87.

On July 4, 2009, Darío Castrillón Hoyos (Columbia), a cardinal priest, turned 80 — and thus lost his right to participate in a conclave. Four days later he retired from his post as President of the Pontifical Commission “Ecclesia Dei.” On June 25, 2009, Francesco Marchisano (Italy), a cardinal deacon, turned 80.

Consequently, the College is now at 185 with 113 under the age of 80 (and thus eligible to vote at a conclave) and 72 over the age of 80.

I as is my wont, I checked yet again, today [i.e., October 25, 2009], on the Vatican list of cardinals.  It says it was last updated 11.11.2008 [i.e., Nov. 11, 2008], and as such it has the total count at 192. So they are kind of way behind. So, per my constant refrain, please be aware if you use these lists that they might not be as up to date as you assume. Why they appear to be reluctant to update their Web site is a mystery. If they really are that short-handed (as I have heard them claim, though I am reminded on Pope John XXIII’s incisive answer when he was once asked how many people worked at the Vatican < see below >) they really should think about getting some interns to help them out.

This is the smallest the College has been in awhile. After the last consistory on November 24, 2007, there were 201 cardinals, with 120 eligible to vote . I had thought that we were due for another consistory this year. November and December are popular months for consistories. So I haven’t totally given up yet. Maybe the pope is preoccupied trying to lure in the Anglican priests. Wonder whether he will make any of them cardinals.

Following my “Next Pope — Papabili List for 2009,” I had some questions as to the amount of sway the curial cardinals would have at the next conclave. So I did some analysis on the composition of the current College beyond just age and nationalities. This is an ongoing effort to keep the data that I found up to-date. This data is now accurate as of July 5, 2009.  There is also a steady trickle of cardinals that retire that impact these numbers. On July 8, Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos, as discussed at the start, retired. Five days earlier, Cardinal Francesco Marchisano (Italy), who had been the President of the Labor Office of the Apostolic See, and Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo (Italy) who had been the Archpriest of Pontifical Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls retired. Prior to that it had been Cardinal James Francis Stafford (USA) on June 2 and before that Cardinal Michael Michai Kitbunchu (Thailand) on May 14. These have been factored in

Of the 185 total cardinals:

• 6 are Cardinal Bishops, 3 are Oriental Rites Patriarchs, 148 are Cardinal Priests & 28 Cardinal Deacons
• Average age is 77 years
• The macro geographic breakdown is as follows:
  Africa 14, Americas 48 (U.S.A. 16), Asia 19, Europe 100 (Italy 39), Oceania 4
  Africa 13 countries, Americas 16, Asia 12, Europe 23, Oceania 2 — 66 countries in total
  Italy 39, U.S.A 16, Spain 10, France 9, Poland 8, Germany 7, Brazil 8, India 6, Argentina 4, Mexico 4, Canada 3, Ireland 3, Philippines 3 & Switzerland 3

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Of the 113 cardinals, under the age of 80 [i.e., 'electors']:

• 4 are Cardinal Bishops, 1 is an Oriental Rites Patriarch, 91 are Cardinal Priests & 17 are Cardinal Deacons
• 19 hold curial offices. Of these 2 are cardinal bishops (viz. Bertone & Re), 5 are cardinal priests and the others cardinal deacons
  (Italy – 7, Rest of Europe – 7, U.S.A. – 1, Latin America – 2 , India – 1 & Africa – 1)
• 64 are Archbishops including two Patriarchs – i.e., Venice and Lisbon (Portugal)
• 1 is Bishop — Mainz (Germany)
• 1 is the Vicar General of Rome, viz. Cardinal Agostino Vallini (papabile)
• 1 is the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of Jerusalem, viz. Cardinal John Patrick Foley
• 26 are ‘retired,’ i.e., emeritus status
• 1, viz. Cardinal Bernard Francis Law (formally of Boston, USA), is an Archpriest
• Average age is 72 years; 5 in their 79^th year, youngest being Peter Erdö (Hungary) at 56
• 21 belong to religious orders, 4 of whom are Salesians, 3 Franciscans, 2 Jesuits & 2 to Opus Dei
• 83 (74%) of these cardinals were created by Pope John Paul II between 1983 and 2003
• 30 were created by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 & 2007
• The macro geographic breakdown is as follows:
  Africa 9, Americas 35 (U.S.A. 13), Asia 10, Europe 57 (Italy 19), Oceania 2
  Africa 8 countries, Americas 14, Asia 7, Europe 21, Oceania 2 — 52 countries in total
  Italy 20, U.S.A 13, France 6, Spain 6, Germany 5, Poland 4, Brazil 4, Mexico 4, Canada 3, India 3

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Of the 72 cardinals, over the age of 80:

• 2 are Cardinal Bishops, 2 are Oriental Rites Patriarch (Babylon of the Chaldeans & Antioch for Maronites), 57 are Cardinal Priests & 11 are Cardinal Deacons
• 1 is an Archbishops – Cardinal Vithayathil, Syro-Malabra (India)
• 64 are ‘retired,’ i.e., emeritus status
• 1 is a nuncio, Cardinal Coppa (Italy)
• 2 are Oriental Rites Patriarchs
• 4, Cardinal Deacons and distinguished academics all, fall into a ‘continuing prior career’ category in that they were created cardinals after they had turned 80 and were thus too old to hold curial offices.
• Average age is 85 years; oldest Cardinal Mayer (Germany) at 98 with three in their 80^th year.
• 15 belong to religious orders with 7 of them Jesuits & 3 Franciscans
• 4 of these cardinals were created by Pope Paul VI between 1969 and 1976
• 62 (86%) by Pope John Paul II between 1979 and 2003
• 6 by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 & 2007
• The macro geographic breakdown is as follows:
  Africa 5, Americas 13 (U.S.A. 3), Asia 9, Europe 43 (Italy 20), Oceania 2
  Africa 5 countries, Americas 7, Asia 7, Europe 12, Oceania 1 — 32 countries in total
  Italy 19, Spain 4, Poland 4, Brazil 4, France 3,  U.S.A 3, India 3

Pope John XXIII’s answer to the question as to how many people worked at the Vatican: “about half!” Judging by recent events, even that might have been overly optimistic.

I am not a cardinal-watcher. For that matter, I am not really even a pope-watcher. My interest and expertise is in research and analysis. So I really am more of a papal historian and analyst — which is what I have ever professed to be. So please do not rely on me for keeping you updated as to the latest happenings with the cardinals. I do not even check necrology on a daily basis — let alone weekly. Sometimes not even monthly. Though I get a daily summary of Vatican news — I don’t read it! I am usually heads down doing research, writing what I have found or trying to make a living. We do not have another cardinal turning 80 until December 18. But much is likely to change before that. So I expect I will be updating this again in a few weeks.

Hope this helps. All the best.

Anu