Who Is Choosing the Pope?

As the Church awaits the election of the next Successor of St. Peter, various reference guides are available to help people understand the workings of the conclave, and to learn about the cardinals.

One such guide is available through the Web site catholic-hierarchy.org. An overview of the conclave and the cardinals is available here: www.catholic-hierarchy.org/conclave2013.html.

Details include: 

-- Of the 117 Voting Cardinals, 67 were named by Pope Benedict XVI. The remaining 50 were named by Pope John Paul II. 

-- Of the living Cardinals, only 6 were Council Fathers at the Second Vatican Council (Cardinals Angelini, Arinze, Canestri, Delly, Fernandes de Araújo, and Lourdusamy). All of them are over 80 and thus will not be in the Conclave. 

-- Of the Cardinals alive today, 99 participated as Electors in the 2005 Conclave. Of those, 49 are now over 80 and thus will not be in the new Conclave. (Pope Benedict XVI was also an Elector in 2005.)

The cardinals are listed in various formats (voters, non-voters, by rank, etc.) and the lists can be sorted according to each of the terms included (for example, birth date, name, etc).

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On the Net:

Catholic-hierarchy.org: www.catholic-hierarchy.org/conclave2013.html