Cardinal (Catholic Church)

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Cardinals of the Catholic Church wear scarlet garments, and the color is not decoration. It symbolizes a willingness to die for the faith. These senior members of the clergy serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome. Most are bishops and archbishops leading dioceses across the world. Their most solemn responsibility arrives only in crisis. When the Holy See falls vacant, through a pope's death or resignation, the cardinals must choose his successor. This gathering is called a conclave. In November 1970, Pope Paul VI decreed that only cardinals who had not yet turned 80 when the vacancy occurred could participate in that election. When that rule took effect on the 1st of January 1971, it immediately stripped 25 cardinals of their voting rights. How did these figures gain the power to choose the leader of the world's largest Christian institution? And how did a word originally meaning "hinge" come to define the most senior members of the Catholic hierarchy? In Portugal, the role would eventually carry extraordinary weight. One man held both a cardinal's red hat and a royal crown.

• 2. From Hinge to Honor

  ›

  In the early sixth century, the first people in Rome to be called cardinals were the deacons of the city's seven districts. The Latin cardinalis comes from cardo, meaning "pivot" or "hinge." It originally described clergy who were incorporated into a church for which they had not originally been ordained. Over time the word came to mean "principal" or "eminent." The title spread to the senior priests of Rome's parish churches and to the bishops of the seven surrounding sees. By the eighth century, Roman cardinals formed a privileged class within the clergy. A decree of the synod of 769 declared that only a cardinal was eligible to become Bishop of Rome. Pope Innocent IV granted cardinals the privilege of wearing the red hat in 1244.

  Pope Zacharias used the title in a letter of 747 to Pippin the Younger, ruler of the Franks. He applied it to the priests of Paris to distinguish them from country clergy. By the ninth century, various episcopal cities had a special class known as cardinals. Pope Pius V ended that practice in 1567, reserving the title exclusively for the cardinals of Rome.

  In 1059, Pope Nicholas II formalized the cardinals' central function in the papal bull In nomine Domini. He established their right to elect the Bishop of Rome. For a time, only cardinal bishops held that right. The Third Lateran Council in 1179 restored it to the entire college. In 1563, the Ecumenical Council of Trent addressed the selection of cardinals under Pope Pius IV. The council called for the pope to associate with himself "the most select persons only." One notable exception to the general pattern of appointment exists: by Pope Clement XII's 1737 bull Inter praecipuas apostolici ministerii, the Patriarch of Lisbon is guaranteed elevation in the first consistory after his appointment.

• 3. Ministers and Monarchs

  ›

  Cardinal Wolsey served as chief minister to King Henry VIII of England. Cardinal Richelieu went further still. His power was so great that he was, for many years, effectively the ruler of France. His successor in that role was also a cardinal: Jules Mazarin. Guillaume Dubois and Andre-Hercule de Fleury complete the list of four great cardinals who governed France. In Portugal, a succession crisis produced a still more extraordinary outcome. A cardinal, Henry of Portugal, was crowned king. He is the only example of a cardinal-king in history. John II Casimir Vasa held the cardinalate from 1646 until he resigned in 1647. He was then elected King of Poland in 1648 and crowned in 1649. Traditions also developed entitling certain monarchs to nominate trusted clerics for the cardinalate. The monarchs of Austria, Spain, and France each held this privilege. These nominees were known as crown-cardinals. In 1630, Pope Urban VIII issued a decree formalizing the cardinals' own secular standing. Their official title was set as Eminence, replacing the previous forms illustrissimus and reverendissimus. Their secular rank was declared equivalent to prince, placing them second only to the pope and crowned monarchs. The same cardinals who governed kingdoms answered, in the end, to a strict set of rules about who could vote and who could not.

• 4. Counting the Electors

  ›

  In 1586, Pope Sixtus V fixed the total number of cardinals at 70. The figure comprised six cardinal bishops, 50 cardinal priests, and 14 cardinal deacons. The number 70 was a deliberate reference, recalling both the Sanhedrin and the seventy disciples. That limit held for centuries. Pope John XXIII broke it in the mid-twentieth century, citing the need to staff church offices worldwide. In October 1975, Pope Paul VI's document Romano Pontifici eligendo fixed the maximum number of conclave electors at 120. It set no limit on the overall size of the college. Pope Francis pushed even further. His consistory of December 2024 brought the number of cardinals under the age of 80 to 140, well above the 120-elector ceiling. The conclave following the death of Pope Francis saw 133 cardinals participate.

  Since the reign of Pope Martin V, popes have occasionally named cardinals without publishing their identities, a practice called creati et reservati in pectore. The phrase is Latin for "in the breast." In pectore appointments are known only to the pope, typically made to shield a cardinal or congregation from political persecution. If the appointing pope dies before revealing an in pectore appointment, the person's status as cardinal expires. Pope John Paul II was the last pope known to have made such appointments, creating four, including one whose identity was never disclosed.

  When a new pope is chosen, it falls to one specific cardinal to announce the name: the cardinal protodeacon. He is the senior cardinal deacon in order of appointment. If he is an elector, he announces the new pope's name from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. The current protodeacon, Dominique Mamberti, announced the election of Pope Leo XIV in 2025. The protodeacon's role sits at the base of the college's internal structure. The college is organized into three distinct orders: cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons.

• 5. Three Ranks, One College

  ›

  Giovanni Battista Re currently serves as Dean of the College of Cardinals, the highest-ranking cardinal of all. The dean comes from the most senior order: cardinal bishops. Until 1150, there were seven cardinal bishops, each presiding over one of the sees surrounding Rome. These included Ostia, Albano, Porto and Santa Rufina, Palestrina, Sabina and Mentana, Frascati, and Velletri. The see of Velletri was merged with Ostia in 1150 and remained so until 1914, when Pope Pius X separated them again. The practical result was that there continued to be only six cardinal bishops of the Latin Church. Until 1961, a cardinal could claim a vacant suburbicarian see by seniority in the college. Pope John XXIII abolished that privilege on the 10th of March 1961, making the appointment the pope's exclusive prerogative. In 1965, Pope Paul VI issued the motu proprio Ad purpuratorum Patrum Collegium. It decreed that Eastern Catholic patriarchs named as cardinals would also hold the rank of cardinal bishop. Latin Church patriarchs do not share that status. Angelo Scola became Patriarch of Venice in 2002 and was made a cardinal priest in 2003.

  Close to 150 titular churches in Rome today bear the names of cardinal priests, one assigned to each member of the order. Each cardinal priest holds that church as a formal link to Rome, even if he leads a diocese elsewhere. Pope Paul VI abolished all administrative rights cardinals had held over these churches. Cardinals may still celebrate Mass there and often support the churches financially. The longest-serving cardinal priest holds the title of cardinal protopriest. Michael Michai Kitbunchu of Thailand currently holds that distinction.

  Seven deacons of the Papal Household gave rise to the lowest-ranking order of cardinals. These deacons had supervised the church's social services across the 14 districts of Rome in the early Middle Ages. They were first called "cardinal deacons" by the late eighth century. The composition of this group shifted markedly over the twentieth century. In 1939, roughly half the cardinal deacons were Italian. By 1994, that share had fallen to about one third. A cardinal deacon who has served for 10 years earns the right to opt for the order of cardinal priests. When elevated, he takes precedence above any cardinal priest appointed after his own original diaconal date. The dean of the college also receives the titular bishopric of Ostia, the primary suburbicarian see, in addition to whatever see he already held.

• 6. Scarlet, Gold, and Law

  ›

  When a cardinal is in choir dress, scarlet covers nearly everything. The cassock, the mozzetta, and the biretta are all scarlet, worn over a white rochet and a scarlet zucchetto. The biretta of a cardinal is distinctive in one specific way. Unlike the birettas of other prelates, a cardinal's has no pompom or tassel on top. Before the 1460s, cardinals wore violet or blue capes unless specifically granted the privilege of wearing red when acting on papal business. Today, even the ordinary cassock carries a sign of rank: it is black with scarlet piping and a scarlet sash. The cardinal bird takes its name from the clerics, owing to the similarity of their scarlet colors.

  Until 1969, new cardinals received a wide-brimmed hat called a galero at the consistory of their creation. Pope Paul VI discontinued that custom in that year. The galero endures in ecclesiastical heraldry, displayed on the cardinal's coat of arms. At a cardinal's death, the galero was traditionally hung above his tomb from the ceiling. Some cardinals still have a galero made privately, even though it carries no official standing.

  A gold ring accompanies every cardinal's creation, presented by the pope. Before Pope John Paul II standardized the design, each ring featured a gemstone at its center, usually a sapphire. The pope's stemma was engraved on the inside. Under Pope Benedict XVI, the outside of the ring depicted a modern image of the crucifixion of Jesus. Mary and John appeared at each side. The pope's coat of arms was engraved inside.

  Canon law gives cardinals what it calls a "privilege of forum." Only the pope is competent to judge them in matters subject to ecclesiastical jurisdiction. No ordinary ecclesiastical court, not even the Roman Rota, can hear a case against a cardinal without specific papal delegation. Cardinals also hold a universal faculty to hear confessions validly and licitly anywhere in the world. The title Prince of the Church has long been applied to cardinals. Pope Francis publicly rejected it, telling newly created cardinals that Jesus "does not call you to become 'princes' of the Church." These privileges and the cardinal's distinctive appearance reflect papal decrees spanning eight centuries. Among the men who have held the title, some would eventually be recognized as saints.

• 7. The Altars of the Church

  ›

  John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, was executed on the 22nd of June 1535 by order of Henry VIII. He had refused to acknowledge the king as supreme head of the Church of England. He was canonized on the 19th of May 1935, four centuries after his death. Carlo Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation and founder of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. He was canonized on the 1st of November 1610. Roberto Bellarmino, a Jesuit and Doctor of the Church, was canonized on the 29th of June 1930.

  Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Munster and a former count, publicly denounced Gestapo lawlessness in Germany. He condemned the persecution of the Church during the Nazi period. He was beatified on the 9th of October 2005. Stefan Wyszynski, Archbishop of Warsaw and Archbishop of Gniezno, was recognized for his stands against both Nazism and Communism. He was beatified on the 12th of September 2021. Alojzije Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb, was martyred by communist forces in Croatia and beatified on the 3rd of October 1998. Iuliu Hossu, Bishop of Cluj-Gherla, had been named cardinal in pectore and was also martyred by communist forces, in Romania. He was beatified on the 2nd of June 2019.

  John Henry Newman was born on the 21st of February 1801 and died on the 11th of August 1890. A convert from Anglicanism, he was appointed Cardinal-Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro. He was canonized on the 13th of October 2019. Bernardin Gantin, the Beninese Dean of the College of Cardinals, was declared a Servant of God in January 2025.