133 cardinals will elect the new pope as 3 drop out

[Stone]

133 cardinals will elect the new pope as 3 drop out
May 7 will see the cardinal electors gather for the conclave in the Sistine Chapel, looking to discern who is to be the next pope of the Catholic Church.



An image of Pope Francis’ 2013 election is displayed in the Borgia Apartments of the Vatican Museums
©MichaelHaynes

May 2, 2025
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews [adapted - not all hyperlinks included from original]) — With 133 cardinals due to gather in the Sistine Chapel from Wednesday, how is the number of electors established and who are they?

Starting on May 7, the conclave to elect the 267th pope will begin in the Vatican. As confirmed by the Holy See Press Office, 133 cardinals will take part in the papal conclave, out of a total of 135 possible cardinal electors included on the Vatican’s list.

The two who are absent are:

• Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, the retired archbishop of Valencia and promoter of the traditional Mass. Cañizares’ absence had been noted earlier in the week, but was confirmed by the Vatican on Friday.
  
• Cardinal John Njue, the retired archbishop of Nairobi, Kenya.
  

The theologically conservative Croatian Cardinal Vinko Puljić, aged 79, previously told media he would not be participating in the conclave due to his health; however, a later news report published April 24 noted that Puljić does in fact intend to participate in the conclave.

Another cardinal is also not partaking in the conclave, although he is participating in the pre-conclave meetings currently taking place. Angelo Cardinal Becciu announced April 28 that he would skip the conclave, following swirling controversy about his participation and whether Pope Francis had banned him or not. He had not been included in the list of 135 electors by the Vatican, due to the controversy surrounding his official status as a cardinal.


Who elects the pope?

Pope John Paul II’s document Universi Dominici Gregis (UDG) – which set the law for the conclave – notes that all cardinals have the right to elect a new pope, providing they are under the age of 80 on the day the pope dies.

Thus, 136 cardinals fit the age requirement, including Becciu. With the two drop outs, and Becciu’s exclusion, only 133 cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope.

The English translation of UDG stipulates that “the maximum number of Cardinal electors must not exceed one hundred and twenty.”

However, the pope can dispense from this stipulation, given that he is the supreme legislator in the Church for such matters.

Commenting on this passage from UDG and the likelihood of a conclave taking place while there are more than 120 cardinal voters, canon lawyer Father Gerald Murray explained to this correspondent that since the first line of UDG section 33 preserves the right only to cardinals of electing the pope, in this case “all cardinals under age 80 have the right to enter the conclave and to vote for the next pope.”

“The limit of 120 cardinal voters is effectively rendered null when the pope creates more than that number,” Murray added.

In fact, this interpretation was affirmed by the College of Cardinals this week, when they noted that Pope Francis had dispensed the cardinals from this limit of 120 when he created more than 120 cardinal electors.


Who can be pope?

As for who can be elected pope, it is most likely to be one among the voting cardinals, although it does not have to be: the last pope elected who was not part of the College of Cardinals was Pope Urban VI in 1378.

The requirements are:

• That the candidate be a baptized, Catholic man having reached the age of reason.
  
• If he is not a bishop, he must be consecrated prior to taking on the office.
  

However, the chances of the pope being someone other than one of the cardinals taking part in the conclave are immensely slim.

A majority of two-thirds of the vote is necessary for a candidate to be elected, meaning that for this election 89 votes are required.

As noted in LifeSiteNews’ explainer of the full process from a pope’s death to the completion of the election, the cardinals decide on the new pontiff by a process of secret ballots.


How does voting work?

The first day of the conclave sees all the cardinal electors in Saint Peter’s Basilica, where they celebrate the special votive Mass for the election of a pope. After this, they gather in the Pauline chapel in the Apostolic Palace that afternoon. There, they listen to an exhortative homily, before processing to the Sistine Chapel, where they shall swear their oaths for the conclave itself.

That afternoon sees the first vote take place, which is widely understood to be an event to take stock of who has early support, but also for some cardinals to pay respect to some honored member of conclave by voting for them even though they are not expected to actually be elected pope.

Each cardinal must walk up to the altar in the Sistine Chapel and place his written ballot paper in a container for it to be counted.

According to UDG, the men who count and check the ballots are themselves chosen by lot. If they find discrepancies in the number of ballots in a vote, then they burn all of the papers before officially nullifying the vote.

The ballots of every vote are burned and mixed with a chemical to produce the famous black smoke, so eagerly watched for in St. Peter’s Square. UDG sections 64 through 71 contain precise details about how the votes proceed.

The second day sees the start of voting in earnest. There are two rounds – morning and afternoon – each with two votes, meaning a total of four votes per day according to the laws governing the conclave.

The ballot counters read aloud each name on the ballot papers, and tallies are created to record the votes each cardinal receives.

Upon a candidate receiving two-thirds of the vote, he is asked formally if he accepts the election as Supreme Pontiff.

If the man accepts, he is then asked what name he will take as pope. When he reveals this, the Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies swiftly writes a document detailing the new pope’s acceptance and his name.

Providing the candidate is already a bishop – which almost all the members of the College of Cardinals are – the candidate becomes the validly elected pope as soon as he pronounces his formal acceptance of the election.

The ballots are collected, mixed with the chemical for white powder, and burned so that those in St. Peter’s Square see the famous white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

The cardinals greet the new pope in the chapel and make their individual acts of “homage and obedience,” before all collectively making a prayer of thanksgiving.

The newly elected pope is taken into the sacristy next to the Sistine Chapel, where he changes into one of the white cassocks already prepared for him.

Once he is ready, the formal announcement to the world is made, with the senior cardinal deacon stepping onto the loggia of the Vatican to pronounce the famous words: “Annuncio vobis gaudium magnum: habemus papam” — “I announce to you a great joy: we have a pope.”