Pope Francis greets cardinals after Easter Mass. The pope recently announced that he will appoint nine new voting cardinals (in addition to four other cardinals who are over 80 and therefore ineligible to vote). That has changed somewhat under Pope Francis, the first pontiff born outside of Europe since the eighth century, whose appointments to the College of Cardinals have increased the share of non-European member of that body, which votes for the next pope. This analysis looks at Pope Francis’ selections for new cardinals (since 2014, the year after he became pope) by their geographic region. Among the nine cardinals Francis has chosen this year, four are from Europe, with three from Italy and one from Malta.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 23, 2020 16:30 UTC