List of current cardinals


Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome. They are typically ordained bishops and generally hold important roles within the church, such as leading prominent archdioceses or heading dicasteries within the Roman Curia. Cardinals are chosen by the pope and formally created in a consistory, and one of their foremost duties is the election of a new pope – invariably from among their number, although not strictly a requirement – when the Holy See is vacant, following the death or resignation of a pope. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals.
Under current ecclesiastical law, as defined by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, only cardinals who have not passed their 80th birthdays on the day on which the Holy See becomes vacant are eligible to take part in a papal conclave to elect a new pope. The same apostolic constitution specifies that no more than 120 cardinals may take part in a conclave, but makes no provision for there being more than 120 eligible cardinal electors, a number that has often been exceeded. Cardinals may be created in pectore, in which case the pope does not reveal their identities; they are not entitled to the privileges of a cardinal until their names are published by the pope. The creations of any such cardinals whose names have not been revealed before the pope's death or resignation automatically lapse.
there are
245
cardinals,
121
of whom are cardinal electors. The most recent consistory for the creation of cardinals was held on 7 December 2024, when Pope Francis created 21 cardinals, including 20 cardinal electors. Christophe Pierre was the most recent cardinal elector to turn 80, on 30 January 2026. Fernando Filoni will be the next cardinal elector to turn 80, on 15 April 2026. The most recent death of a cardinal was that of Dominik Duka on 4 November 2025, at the age of 82.

Orders of the College of Cardinals, and order of precedence

The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders, with formal precedence in the following sequence:
  1. Cardinal bishops : six cardinals who are chosen by the pope to be titular bishops of the seven suburbicarian dioceses in the vicinity of Rome, plus a few additional cardinals who have been exceptionally "co-opted" as cardinal bishops, as well as patriarchs who lead one of the Eastern Catholic Churches. The two most senior cardinal bishops, who are elected by the cardinal bishops from among themselves with papal approval, are the dean and the vice dean, currently Giovanni Battista Re and Leonardo Sandri, respectively. Among the cardinal electors, the senior cardinal bishop is presently Pietro Parolin.
  2. Cardinal priests : bishops and archbishops, typically in charge of dioceses around the world, as well as former cardinal deacons who have opted to be elevated to become cardinal priests. The most senior cardinal priest is the protopriest, currently Michael Michai Kitbunchu; among the cardinal electors, the senior cardinal priest is presently Peter Turkson.
  3. Cardinal deacons : bishops and archbishops who work in the Roman Curia or the diplomatic service of the Holy See, and all other clergy, including priests who have been granted a dispensation from the normal requirement that a person must be consecrated a bishop before becoming a cardinal. A cardinal deacon may opt to become a cardinal priest after having served as a cardinal deacon for ten years. The most senior cardinal deacon is the protodeacon, currently Dominique Mamberti; he is also the senior cardinal deacon among the cardinal electors. The junior cardinal deacon is presently George Koovakad; he is also the junior cardinal deacon among the electors.
For cardinal bishops, the dean is first in precedence, followed by the vice dean and then, in order of appointment as cardinal bishops, by the remainder. For cardinal bishops who are Eastern Catholic patriarchs, for cardinal priests and for cardinal deacons, precedence is determined by the date of the consistory in which they were created cardinals and then by the order in which they appeared in the official announcement or bulletin.
All cardinals listed are members of the Latin Church unless otherwise stated. Cardinals belonging to institutes of consecrated life or societies of apostolic life are indicated by the relevant post-nominal letters. Cardinals in pastoral ministry are classified under the country in which their respective dioceses are located, although they may be citizens of another country.

Cardinals: listed in order of precedence

Cardinals to be created on ⟨date⟩

On ⟨date⟩, Pope ⟨name⟩ announced a consistory to be held on ⟨date⟩ to create ⟨number⟩ cardinals, including ⟨number⟩ cardinal electors. The orders to which the appointees will belong has not been announced; they are listed here in the order they were announced.

Demographics of the College of Cardinals

of cardinals are eligible to participate in a papal conclave. The current threshold number of votes needed to be elected pope with the required two-thirds supermajority is, assuming that all cardinal electors were to participate in a conclave.

Cardinals by appointing pope

This table indicates the number of current cardinals created by each pope and belonging to each order of the college.

Cardinals by particular church ''sui iuris''

While most cardinals belong to the Latin Church, which encompasses the vast majority of Catholics, a small number of cardinals belong to one of the twenty-three autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches. At present, there are seven Eastern Catholic cardinals, including five cardinal electors, belonging to six particular churches sui iuris:

Cardinals by institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life

At present, there are 63 cardinals, including 32 cardinal electors, who are members of the religious life, representing 27 institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life. In this table, the common name for the members of an institute or society, if different from its formal name, is given in brackets.

Cardinals by continent

For the purposes of this article, countries are grouped into continents generally according to the regions of the United Nations geoscheme; for the region of the Americas, North America comprises the subregions of Northern America, Central America and the Caribbean, while South America comprises the remaining subregion of the same name. The statistics for the global distribution of Catholics in the table below are sourced from the of the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, published in 2025.

Cardinals by country

At present, 92 countries are represented in the College of Cardinals, including 66 with at least one cardinal elector. The countries with the greatest numbers of cardinals are Italy, the United States, and Spain. Among the cardinal electors, the countries with the greatest numbers are Italy, the United States, and Brazil.