Pope Francis appointed 21 new cardinals during the consistory held in St. Peter's Square. They come from all over the world, including Poland, Spain, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Sudan, and the Holy Land. The College of Cardinals now consists of 242 living cardinals, 137 of whom are under the age of 80 and have the right to vote in a future Conclave, and 105 of them - over 80 years old - who are practically without operational responsibilities. Among the electors, the vast majority, equal to 99 cardinals - higher than the quorum of two-thirds, which was 77 votes last time and was surpassed by Bergoglio as far as we know - is composed of those created by Francis (though not all are to be considered "Bergoglians" of strict observance), while 29 were created by Benedict XVI and nine by St. John Paul II. Beyond the numbers, this Consistory confirms the Vatican's shift away from Europe and toward the global south: suffice it to say, Francis recently appointed the bishop of Ulan Bator, the young missionary Giorgio Marengo, as cardinal at the head of a community of a thousand Catholics. The Italians are now 16, whereas they were 28 ten years ago: Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, and Pierbattista Pizzaballa, patriarch of Jerusalem of the Latins, former Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land, both destined to be among the most "elegible" in the future Conclave, when the time will come. For the time being, the archbishops of Milan (Mons. Delpini, head of the world's largest diocese...), Venice, Turin, Naples, Palermo, and Genoa, who were previously automatically bestowed the biretta, remain outside the College.
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