Death of Pope Francis announced by the Vatican

After the demise of a Pope, the School of Cardinals is answerable for gathering the Sistine Chapel and selecting a brand new sovereign of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church.

In December 2024, Pope Franciscus put in 21 new cardinals in a consistory. In 1970, Paus Paul VI set a 120 -man restrict to a papal conclave, a gathering or election of the School of Cardinals.

On the time, Pope Franciscus expanded the school to 142 males, his tenth consistory throughout his reign because the Pope, controversial alternatives led to whispering within the Catholic neighborhood with regard to the agenda of Pope Francis during his papacy and after his demise.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Mykola Bychok, 44, was unveiled as one of many cardinal selections of Pope Francis in October 2024. The choice acquired a recoil as a big archbishop from Kyiv, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, was transferred to pink and headband. Shevchuk was crucial concerning the response of Pope Francis to the fixed battle with Russia, though Pope Francis accepted an invite of the Archbishop to go to Ukraine in 2025.

Pope Francis lately held a distinguished Italian presence on the school and put in 5 new cardinals from throughout Italy.

Though the consistory overflows, solely 138 cardinals will vote for the following elections, as a result of senior members of over the age of 80 can not vote.

Italian prelate Pietro Parolin, 70, is a senior cardinal bishop, a excessive rating within the School of Cardinals. Parolin is the very best member of the school beneath the age of 80. Parolin is taken into account a “average” cardinal within the church.

The 2 oldest cardinal bishops are Italian prelate Giovanni Battista RE, 91, and Argentinian prelate Leonardo Sandri, 81.

Thais prelate Michael Michai Kitbunchu, 96, the oldest cardinal in Asia, is essentially the most senior cardinal priest.

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis made efforts to develop into extra together with Catholics within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood and famous about civilian unions of the identical intercourse.

Italian prelate Matteo Zuppi is pro-LGBTQ and made the headlines when he was accused of holding a mass to bless a couple of of the identical intercourse. He’s pushed as a doable substitute for Pope Francis.

Hungarian prelate Peter Erdö is thrown round as a substitute for Pope Francis and is taken into account a conservative that devotes his private religion to the Virgin Mary.