Whenever Pope Francis appoints new cardinals, you can always expect a couple of surprises. This Saturday, the head of the Catholic Church will appoint 21 new clergymen to the College of Cardinals. And, once again, some of the appointments are unusual.

One of the new appointees will be only 44 years old — making him the youngest cardinal in a long time. Another will be 100 years old in ten months — making him the oldest of all 253 cardinals. Among the appointees, there are several bishops from metropolitan areas in Latin America, who are known for their active role in society.

One appointee is an Indian member of the Curia who has been responsible for organizing the pope's travels in the past three years. The archbishops of Tehran and Algiers, born in Belgium and France respectively, will present themselves to the Pope in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday and receive the purple Cardinal's cap.

Breaking with tradition

As with his previous nine rounds of cardinal appointments, Pope Francis has broken with tradition. This pope is acting "much more unconventionally" than any of his predecessors of the past 200 to 250 years, Augsburg theology professor and author of "History of the Popes since 1800."

For example, Francis shelved the concept of almost automatically making the leaders of important archdioceses cardinals. Thus, the archbishops of Paris, Sydney, Milan and Berlin have missed out. "Instead, Francis often chooses clergymen who are in line with his church policy, for example, those who are very involved in refugee and migration issues," Ernesti explained.

The College of Cardinals is the closest circle of advisors to the supreme leader of the Catholic Church. After the death or resignation of a pope, all members under the age of 80 elect his successor in a so-called conclave.  Paul VI (1963-1978) stipulated in 1975, that the number of papal electors in the conclave should not exceed 120, but Pope Francis has done away with this limitation.

One of the 21 new cardinals is already over the age limit of 80, but this will still leave a total of 140 cardinals under the age of 80 eligible to be electors — and also to be elected pope. There have rarely, if ever, been so many. By the end of 2025, 15 cardinals will have reached the age of 80 and will therefore no longer be potential papal electors. If there are no further deaths, there will still be 125 papal electors.

Personal connections

Francis has shaped the circle of participants in the next conclave. Just over 21% were appointed by his predecessors John Paul II (1978-2005) or Benedict XVI (2005-2013).

The pope likes to choose clergymen who have not been waiting to become cardinals. The archbishop of Tokyo, Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, for example, was in Rome for the World Synod in October when the Pope announced the names of the future cardinals during his Sunday address. Kikuchi wasn't listening. When someone suddenly congratulated him, he initially thought it was a joke. Until the cardinal from Bogota showed him a video of the Pope's words.

The pope's desire to make the College of Cardinals more international is apparent. At the 2013 conclave, which elected the Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the successor to Benedict XVI, now Pope Francis, 115 cardinals from 48 countries took part, including 28 Italians (today: 17) and six Germans (today: three), but only eleven cardinals from Asia and Oceania (today: 29) and eleven from Africa (today: 18).

According to the Italian-American church historian Massimo Faggioli, another element is more important than internationalization: The appointees often have a special personal relationship with Pope Francis, often because of their common membership of the Jesuit order, or just personal sympathy. Faggioli says that during the time of John Paul II and Benedict, such personal ties were much criticized.

The pope's personnel decisions favor candidates from Africa, Latin America and Asia. Faggioli said no potential papal elector has come from Ireland for some time, although the majority of that country's population are Catholic believers. The appointee from Australia, on the other hand, is a Ukrainian who specifically looks after the relatively small number of Ukrainian-Catholic believers in Australia.

Can Francis, who will soon turn 88 years old, succeed in predetermining the decision of a future conclave through his personnel policy? Ernesti is skeptical. Every pope certainly tries to ensure that his work is continued in this way. However, church history shows that this is not so easy. "You could say that conclaves are ultimately unpredictable," Ernesti concluded.

Faggioli sees another problem. The College of Cardinals is now more international, he says, but many of the cardinals have never met in person, as Pope Francis rarely calls mandatory cardinal meetings, which is intended precisely for the purpose of promoting mutual understanding.

"In my opinion, this is a risk," Faggioli said. "There is a danger that it will just be a group of people who get together one day and then have the problem of electing a new pope without knowing each other," he added.

This article was originally written in German.

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