Cardinal (Catholicism) - College and Orders of Cardinalate

College and Orders of Cardinalate

Pope Sixtus V limited the number of cardinals to 70, composed of six cardinal bishops, 50 cardinal priests, and 14 cardinal deacons; however, Pope John XXIII began to exceed the overall limit of 70, and this continued under his successors. At the start of 1971, Pope Paul VI set an age limit of eighty years for electors, who were to number no more than 120, but set no limit to the number of cardinals as a whole, including those over eighty. (As a result of the setting of the age limit at the start of 1971, twenty-five living cardinals, including the last three surviving cardinals elevated by Pope Pius XI, lost the right to participate in a conclave.) Since Popes can dispense from church laws, they have sometimes brought the number of cardinals under the age of 80 to more than 120, perhaps calculating that the number would be sufficiently reduced by the time the need for a conclave would arise. And in fact, since the 120 limit was enacted, no conclave has been held with even a full 120 entitled to participate. Pope Paul VI also increased the number of cardinal bishops by giving that rank to patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches who are made cardinals.