Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Foto d'archivio
by Fabio Beretta
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - With the image of Christ and the Last Judgment painted by Michelangelo on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel, the Cardinals are gathering in Conclave to elect the successor of Peter. An election in which an increasing number of cardinals from the countries under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization - Section for the First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches - are participating.
To date, a total of 1,123 ecclesiastical districts (i.e., Archdioceses, Dioceses, Territorial Abbeys, Apostolic Vicariates, Apostolic Prefectures, Missions sui iuris, Apostolic Administrations, and Military Ordinariates) are subject to the Dicastery for Evangelization. Most of them are in Africa (525) and Asia (481), followed by the Americas (71) and Oceania (46).
The Conclave of June 1963
When John XXIII died on June 3, 1963, 82 Cardinals were still alive, all of whom had the right to participate in the election of the Successor of Peter. The rule that today prohibits Cardinals over the age of 80 from participating in the Conclave was introduced by Paul VI in 1970. Thus, the College of Cardinals that elected Pope Paul VI included Cardinals over the age of 80.
Nevertheless, only 80 of them entered the Sistine Chapel. Two Cardinals did not come to Rome: the Hungarian József Mindszenty (the communist regime forbade him from leaving the country) and Carlos María Javier de la Torre, Archbishop of Quito, Ecuador (absent due to health reasons). A total of 29 nations were represented.
A total of seven cardinals from the territories then under the jurisdiction of the Congregation Propaganda Fide participated in the Conclave that year: Peter Tatsuo Doi (Japan, Archbishop of Tokyo, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Japan), Valerian Gracias (India, Archbishop of Bombay, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India), Laurean Rugambwa (Tanzania, Bishop of Bukoba), Thomas Tien Ken-sin (China, Archbishop of Beijing, Apostolic Administrator of Taipei), and Norman Thomas Gilroy (Australia, Archbishop of Sydney, Primate of Australia, Grand Prior for Australia-New South Wales of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem).
The Conclaves of 1978
Paul VI was the first Pope to expand the boundaries of the College of Cardinals by appointing numerous non-European cardinals. After the death of the Pope (on August 6, 1978), who decided to exclude Cardinals over eighty from voting with the Motu Proprio “Ingravescentem Aetatem” of 21 November 1970 and modified some norms of the Conclave with the Apostolic Constitution “Romano Pontifici Eligendo” of 1 October 1975, a total of 111 cardinals were eligible to vote.
At the conclave in August 1978, however, only 108 people entered the Sistine Chapel: Valerian Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay, John Joseph Wright, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Bolesław Filipiak, Dean Emeritus of the Roman Rota, were all absent from the Conclave for health reasons.
A total of 18 cardinals from the so-called mission territories took part in the election of John Paul I, including one cardinal who works in the Roman Curia and one French cardinal who heads an archdiocese in North Africa: Bernardin Gantin (Benin, President of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"), Lawrence Trevor Picachy (India, Archbishop of Calcutta, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India), Justinus Darmojuwono (Indonesia, Archbishop of Semarang), Joseph Marie Anthony Cordeiro (Pakistan, Archbishop of Karachi), Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (South Korea, Archbishop of Seoul, Apostolic Administrator of Pyongyang), Thomas Benjamin Cooray (Sri Lanka, Archbishop of Colombo, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Sri Lanka), Joseph Marie Trinh-nhu-Khuê (Vietnam, Archbishop of Ha Noi), Maurice Michael Otunga (Kenya, Archbishop of Nairobi, President of the Episcopal Conference of Kenya, Military Vicar for Kenya), Victor Razafimahatratra (Madagascar, Archbishop of Antananarivo, President of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar), Dominic Ekandem (Nigeria, Bishop of Ikot Ekpene, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria), Hyacinthe Thiandoum (Senegal, Archbishop of Dakar, President of the Episcopal Conference of Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau), Owen McCann (South Africa, Archbishop of Cape Town), Laurean Rugambwa (Tanzania, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam) Emmanuel Kiwanuka Nsubuga (Uganda, Archbishop of Kampala), Paul Zoungrana (Burkina Faso, Archbishop of Ouagadougou), Joseph-Albert Malula (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), Pio Taofinu'u (Samoa, Bishop of Samoa and Tokelau), Reginald John Delargey (New Zealand, Archbishop of Wellington, President of the New Zealand Bishops' Conference).
In 1978, a second Conclave took place just over a month after the first, as John Paul I died after only 33 days of pontificate. During this brief period, there were no Consistories, and when the cardinals met again in the Sistine Chapel in October of that year, the cardinals were the same ones who had met a few weeks earlier. They all held the same offices. Forty-six nations were represented in both Conclaves.
The 2005 Conclave
The first Conclave of the third millennium began with the reform of the conclave, which John Paul II initiated in 1996 with the Apostolic Constitution "Universi Dominici Gregis." That year, the cardinals were accommodated for the first time in the new guesthouse Casa Santa Marta (instead of in the halls of the Apostolic Palace), which had been built specifically for this purpose. In the conclave that led to the election of Benedict XVI, 117 Cardinals were eligible to vote. A total of 115 entered the Sistine Chapel: Adolfo Antonio Suárez Rivera (Archbishop Emeritus of Monterrey, Mexico) and Jaime Lachica Sin (Archbishop Emeritus of Manila, Philippines) were unable to travel to Rome for health reasons.
At the time of John Paul II's death, the eligible Cardinals came from 52 nations on all continents. In total, there were seventeen cardinals from countries entrusted to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, some of whom headed dicasteries and bodies of the Holy See: Wilfrid Fox Napier (South Africa, Archbishop of Durban), Gabriel Zubeir Wako (Sudan, Archbishop of Khartoum), Telesphore Placidus Toppo (India, Archbishop of Ranchi), Armand Gaétan Razafindratandra (Madagascar, Archbishop of Antananarivo), Bernard Agré (Ivory Coast, Archbishop of Abidjan), Emmanuel Wamala (Uganda, Archbishop of Kampala), Christian Wiyghan Tumi (Cameroon, Archbishop of Douala), Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), Francis Arinze (Nigeria, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi (Japan, Archbishop Emeritus of Tokyo), Michael Michai Kitbunchu (Thailand, Archbishop of Bangkok, President of the Thai Bishops' Conference), Stephen Fumio Hamao (Japan, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People), Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (Nigeria, Archbishop of Lagos), Ivan Dias (India, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja (Indonesia, Archbishop of Jakarta, Military Bishop of Indonesia), Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân (Vietnam, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh), Peter Turkson (Ghana, Archbishop of Cape Coast).
The 2013 Conclave
When Benedict XVI announced to the world his resignation from the Petrine Ministry during a Consistory in February 2013, 117 eligible cardinals were present, but only 115 entered the Sistine Chapel. Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja (Archbishop Emeritus of Jakarta, Indonesia) and Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien (Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland) were absent for health reasons.
During the conclave that led to the election of Pope Francis, 17 Cardinals from the territories entrusted to the Missionary Dicastery arrived in Rome. As in previous Conclaves, several of these cardinals served in the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia: Peter Turkson (Ghana, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace), Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (Sri Lanka, Archbishop of Colombo), Robert Sarah (Guinea, President of the Pontifical Council 'Cor Unum'), George Alencherry (India, Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly), Oswald Gracias (India, Archbishop of Bombay), Polycarp Pengo (Tanzania, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam), John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan (Nigeria, Archbishop of Abuja), John Njue (Kenya, Archbishop of Nairobi), Wilfrid Fox Napier (South Africa, Archbishop of Durban), Gabriel Zubeir Wako (Sudan, Archbishop of Khartoum), Telesphore Placidus Toppo (India, Archbishop of Ranchi), Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya (Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop of Kinshasa), John Tong Hon (China, Bishop of Hong Kong), Théodore-Adrien Sarr (Senegal, Archbishop of Dakar), Anthony Olubunmi Okogie (Nigeria, Archbishop of Lagos), Ivan Dias (India, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Mân (Vietnam, Archbishop of Hô Chí Minh).
The 2025 Conclave
At the time of Pope Francis's death, there are 252 cardinals alive, of whom 135 arepotential electors for the Conclave that begins on May 7. Of these, 133 will enter the Sistine Chapel, as two of them, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, and Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, are absent for health reasons.
It will be a Conclave with Cardinals from 66 nations. Among them are 34 from the territories under the jurisdiction of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Some of them come from other countries but exercise their ministry in these mission countries, just as some are active in the Roman Curia: Giorgio Marengo (Italy, Apostolic Prefect of Ulan Bator, Mongolia), Virgílio do Carmo da Silva (East Timor, Metropolitan Archbishop of Dili), Dieudonné Nzapalainga (Central African Republic, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangui), Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla (South Sudan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Juba), Jean-Paul Vesco (France, Metropolitan Archbishop of Algiers), Soane Patita Paini Mafi (Tonga, Bishop of Tonga), Anthony Poola (India, Metropolitan Archbishop of Hyderabad), Ignace Bessi Dogbo (Ivory Coast, Metropolitan Archbishop of Abidjan), Protase Rugambwa (Tanzania, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tabora), Fridolin Ambongo Besungu (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kinshasa), Stephen Chow Sau-yan (China, Bishop of Hong Kong), Antoine Kambanda (Rwanda, Metropolitan Archbishop of Kigali), Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi (Japan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Tokyo), William Goh Seng Chye (Singapore, Archbishop of Singapore), John Ribat (Papua New Guinea, Metropolitan Archbishop of Port Moresby), Stephen Brislin (South Africa, Metropolitan Archbishop of Johannesburg), Désiré Tsarahazana (Madagascar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toamasina), Filipe Neri Ferrão (India, Metropolitan Archbishop of Goa and Damão), Cristóbal López Romero (Spain, Archbishop of Rabat, Morocco), Lazarus You Heung-sik (South Korea, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy), Sebastian Francis (Malaysia, Bishop of Penang), Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo (Indonesia, Metropolitan Archbishop of Jakarta), Arlindo Gomes Furtado (Cape Verde, Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde), Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij (Thailand, Archbishop Emeritus of Bangkok), Thomas Aquino Manyo Maeda (Japan, Metropolitan Archbishop of Osaka-Takamatsu), Charles Maung Bo (Myanmar, Metropolitan Archbishop of Yangon), Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson (Ghana, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences), John Atcherley Dew (New Zealand, Archbishop Emeritus of Wellington), Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (Sri Lanka, Metropolitan Archbishop of Colombo), Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo (Burkina Faso, Archbishop Emeritus of Ouagadougou), Jean-Pierre Kutwa (Ivory Coast, Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan), Joseph Coutts (Pakistan, Archbishop Emeritus of Karachi), Robert Sarah (Guinea, Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), Peter Ebere Okpaleke (Nigeria, Bishop of Ekwulobia). (Agenzia Fides, 6/5/2025)
