Cardinal electors for the 2005 papal conclave
The papal conclave of 2005 was convened to elect a pope, the head of the Catholic Church, to succeed Pope John Paul II following his death on. According to the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthday on the day on which the Holy See fell vacant were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors invariably elect the pope from among their number. The election is carried out by secret ballot.
Of the 183 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of the vacancy of the Holy See, there were 117 cardinal electors who were eligible to participate in the subsequent conclave. Two cardinal electors did not participate, decreasing the number in attendance to 115. The number of votes required to be elected pope with a two-thirds supermajority or with a one-half simple majority were or, respectively.
Of the 115 attending cardinal electors, 5 were cardinal bishops, 93 were cardinal priests and 17 were cardinal deacons; 2 had been created cardinals by Pope Paul VI and 113 by Pope John Paul II; 24 worked in the service of the Holy See, such as in the Roman Curia, 73 were in charge of pastoral duties outside of Rome and 18 had retired. The oldest cardinal elector in the conclave was Marco Cé, at the age of, while the youngest cardinal elector was Péter Erdő, at the age of. Another 66 cardinals were ineligible to participate in the conclave, for reasons of age.
The cardinal electors entered the Sistine Chapel to begin the conclave on. On, after four ballots over two days, they elected Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who took the papal name Benedict XVI.
Cardinal electors
The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders: cardinal bishops , cardinal priests and cardinal deacons , with precedence in that sequence. This is the order in which the cardinal electors process into the conclave, take the oath and cast their ballots, generally reflecting seniority and honour. For cardinal bishops, except for those who are Eastern Catholic patriarchs, the dean is first in precedence, followed by the vice-dean and then by the rest in order of appointment as cardinal bishops. 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.Three of the cardinal electors were from the Eastern Catholic Churches: Ignace Moussa I Daoud, Varkey Vithayathil and Lubomyr Husar. In addition, the senior cardinal bishop, the senior cardinal priest, the senior cardinal deacon and the junior cardinal deacon were assigned specific roles in the conclave, such as presiding over the conclave itself or announcing the election of the pope. These were, respectively, Joseph Ratzinger, William Wakefield Baum, Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez and Attilio Nicora. The Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, who was in charge of administering the Holy See during its vacancy, was Eduardo Martínez Somalo.
The data below are as of, the date on which the Holy See fell vacant. By default, the cardinals are sorted by precedence within each table, as denoted by the column. All cardinals are of the Latin Church unless otherwise stated. Cardinals belonging to institutes of consecrated life or to societies of apostolic life are indicated by the respective post-nominal letters.
Name | Country | Born | Order | Consistory | Office | ||
1 | Joseph Ratzinger* | 16.04.1927 | CB | 27.06.1977 Paul VI | Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith | ||
2 | Angelo Sodano | 23.11.1927 | CB | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Secretary of State | ||
3 | Alfonso López Trujillo | 08.11.1935 | CB | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for the Family | ||
4 | Giovanni Battista Re | 30.01.1934 | CB | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops | ||
5 | Ignace Moussa I Daoud | 18.09.1930 | CB | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches | ||
6 | William Wakefield Baum | 21.11.1926 | CP | 24.05.1976 Paul VI | Major Penitentiary emeritus | ||
7 | Marco Cé | 08.07.1925 | CP | 30.06.1979 John Paul II | Patriarch emeritus of Venice | ||
8 | Franciszek Macharski | 20.05.1927 | CP | 30.06.1979 John Paul II | Archbishop of Kraków | ||
9 | Michael Michai Kitbunchu | 25.01.1929 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop of Bangkok | ||
10 | Godfried Danneels | 04.06.1933 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop of Mechelen–Brussels | ||
11 | Thomas Stafford Williams | 20.03.1930 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Wellington | ||
12 | Carlo Maria Martini | 15.02.1927 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Milan | ||
13 | Jean-Marie Lustiger | 17.09.1926 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Paris | ||
14 | Józef Glemp | 18.12.1929 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop of Warsaw | ||
15 | Joachim Meisner | 25.12.1933 | CP | 02.02.1983 John Paul II | Archbishop of Cologne | ||
16 | Francis Arinze | 01.11.1932 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments | ||
17 | Miguel Obando Bravo | 02.02.1926 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Managua | ||
18 | Ricardo Jamin Vidal | 06.02.1931 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archbishop of Cebu | ||
19 | Paul Poupard | 30.08.1930 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for Culture | ||
20 | Friedrich Wetter | 20.02.1928 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archbishop of Munich and Freising | ||
21 | Adrianus Johannes Simonis | 26.11.1931 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archbishop of Utrecht | ||
22 | Bernard Francis Law | 04.11.1931 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major | ||
23 | Giacomo Biffi | 13.06.1928 | CP | 25.05.1985 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Bologna | ||
24 | Eduardo Martínez Somalo | 31.03.1927 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church | ||
25 | José Freire Falcão | 23.10.1925 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Brasília | ||
26 | Michele Giordano | 22.09.1930 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | Archbishop of Naples | ||
27 | Edmund Casimir Szoka | 14.09.1927 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State | ||
28 | László Paskai | 08.05.1927 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Esztergom–Budapest | ||
29 | Christian Wiyghan Tumi | 15.10.1930 | CP | 28.06.1988 John Paul II | Archbishop of Douala | ||
30 | Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi | 03.12.1930 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Archbishop of Kinshasa | ||
31 | Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez | 31.10.1936 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Archbishop of Santo Domingo | ||
32 | Roger Michael Mahony | 27.02.1936 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Archbishop of Los Angeles | ||
33 | Camillo Ruini | 19.02.1931 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Vicar General for Rome and Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint John Lateran | ||
34 | Henri Schwery | 14.06.1932 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Bishop emeritus of Sion | ||
35 | Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky | 09.02.1936 | CP | 28.06.1991 John Paul II | Archbishop of Berlin | ||
36 | Miloslav Vlk | 17.05.1932 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Prague | ||
37 | Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi | 17.06.1928 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Tokyo | ||
38 | Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja | 20.12.1934 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Jakarta | ||
39 | Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino | 18.10.1936 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of San Cristóbal de la Habana | ||
40 | Emmanuel Wamala | 15.12.1926 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Kampala | ||
41 | William Henry Keeler | 04.03.1931 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Baltimore | ||
42 | Jean-Claude Turcotte | 26.06.1936 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Montreal | ||
43 | Ricardo María Carles Gordó | 24.09.1926 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Barcelona | ||
44 | Adam Joseph Maida | 18.03.1930 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Detroit | ||
45 | Vinko Puljić | 08.09.1945 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Vrhbosna | ||
46 | Armand Gaetan Razafindratandra | 07.08.1925 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Antananarivo | ||
47 | Juan Sandoval Íñiguez | 28.03.1933 | CP | 26.11.1994 John Paul II | Archbishop of Guadalajara | ||
48 | Salvatore De Giorgi | 06.09.1930 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Palermo | ||
49 | Antonio María Rouco Varela | 20.08.1936 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Madrid | ||
50 | Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic | 27.01.1930 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Toronto | ||
51 | Dionigi Tettamanzi | 14.03.1934 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Milan | ||
52 | Polycarp Pengo | 05.08.1944 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam | ||
53 | Christoph Schönborn | 22.01.1945 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Vienna | ||
54 | Norberto Rivera Carrera | 06.06.1942 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Mexico | ||
55 | Francis Eugene George | 16.01.1937 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Chicago | ||
56 | Marian Jaworski | 21.08.1926 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Lviv | ||
57 | Jānis Pujats | 14.11.1930 | CP | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Archbishop of Riga | ||
58 | Ivan Dias | 14.04.1936 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Bombay | ||
59 | Geraldo Majella Agnelo | 19.10.1933 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of São Salvador da Bahia | ||
60 | Pedro Rubiano Sáenz | 13.09.1932 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Bogotá | ||
61 | Theodore Edgar McCarrick | 07.07.1930 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Washington | ||
62 | Desmond Connell | 24.03.1926 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Dublin | ||
63 | Audrys Juozas Bačkis | 01.02.1937 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Vilnius | ||
64 | Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa | 05.09.1933 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Santiago de Chile | ||
65 | Julio Terrazas Sandoval | 07.03.1936 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra | ||
66 | Wilfrid Fox Napier | 08.03.1941 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Durban | ||
67 | Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga | 29.12.1942 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Tegucigalpa | ||
68 | Bernard Agré | 02.03.1926 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Abidjan | ||
69 | Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne | 28.12.1943 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Lima | ||
70 | Francisco Álvarez Martínez | 14.07.1925 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop emeritus of Toledo | ||
71 | Cláudio Hummes | 08.08.1934 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of São Paulo | ||
72 | Varkey Vithayathil | 29.05.1927 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Major Archbishop of Ernakulam–Angamaly | ||
73 | Jorge Mario Bergoglio | 17.12.1936 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Buenos Aires | ||
74 | José da Cruz Policarpo | 26.02.1936 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Patriarch of Lisbon | ||
75 | Severino Poletto | 18.03.1933 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Turin | ||
76 | Cormac Murphy-O'Connor | 24.08.1932 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of Westminster | ||
77 | Edward Michael Egan | 02.04.1932 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Archbishop of New York | ||
78 | Lubomyr Husar | 26.02.1933 | CP | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Major Archbishop of Kiev–Galicia | ||
79 | Karl Lehmann | 16.05.1936 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Bishop of Mainz | ||
80 | Angelo Scola | 07.11.1941 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Patriarch of Venice | ||
81 | Anthony Olubunmi Okogie | 16.06.1936 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Lagos | ||
82 | Bernard Panafieu | 26.01.1931 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Marseille | ||
83 | Gabriel Zubeir Wako | 27.02.1941 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Khartoum | ||
84 | Carlos Amigo Vallejo | 23.08.1934 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Seville | ||
85 | Justin Francis Rigali | 19.04.1935 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Philadelphia | ||
86 | Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien | 17.03.1938 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh | ||
87 | Eusébio Oscar Scheid | 08.12.1932 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro | ||
88 | Ennio Antonelli | 18.11.1936 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Florence | ||
89 | Tarcisio Bertone | 02.12.1934 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Genoa | ||
90 | Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson | 11.10.1948 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Cape Coast | ||
91 | Telesphore Placidus Toppo | 15.10.1939 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Ranchi | ||
92 | George Pell | 08.06.1941 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Sydney | ||
93 | Josip Bozanić | 20.03.1949 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Zagreb | ||
94 | Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn | 05.03.1934 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City | ||
95 | Rodolfo Quezada Toruño | 08.03.1932 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Guatemala | ||
96 | Philippe Barbarin | 17.10.1950 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Lyon | ||
97 | Péter Erdő | 25.06.1952 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Esztergom–Budapest | ||
98 | Marc Ouellet | 08.06.1944 | CP | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archbishop of Quebec | ||
99 | Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez | 23.12.1926 | CD | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments | ||
100 | Darío Castrillón Hoyos | 04.07.1929 | CD | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei | ||
101 | James Francis Stafford | 26.07.1932 | CD | 21.02.1998 John Paul II | Major Penitentiary | ||
102 | Agostino Cacciavillan | 14.08.1926 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | President emeritus of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See | ||
103 | Sergio Sebastiani | 11.04.1931 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See | ||
104 | Zenon Grocholewski | 11.10.1939 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education | ||
105 | José Saraiva Martins | 06.01.1932 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints | ||
106 | Crescenzio Sepe | 02.06.1943 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples | ||
107 | Mario Francesco Pompedda | 18.04.1929 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | Prefect emeritus of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura | ||
108 | Walter Kasper | 05.03.1933 | CD | 21.02.2001 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity | ||
109 | Jean-Louis Tauran | 05.04.1943 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church | ||
110 | Renato Raffaele Martino | 23.11.1932 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace | ||
111 | Francesco Marchisano | 25.06.1929 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter and President of the Labour Office of the Apostolic See | ||
112 | Julián Herranz Casado | 31.03.1930 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts | ||
113 | Javier Lozano Barragán | 26.01.1933 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers | ||
114 | Stephen Fumio Hamao | 09.03.1930 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People | ||
115 | Attilio Nicora | 16.03.1937 | CD | 21.10.2003 John Paul II | President of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See |
Not in attendance
Cardinal electors by continent and by country
The 115 attending cardinal electors were from 52 countries on all six inhabited continents; the countries with the greatest number of cardinal electors were Italy, the United States and, jointly, Germany and Spain.indicating the number of cardinal electors in attendance from each country
Continent | Number | Percentage |
Africa | 11 | |
North America | 22 | |
South America | 12 | |
Asia | 10 | |
Europe* | 58 | |
Oceania | 2 | |
Total | 115 | 100.0% |