WORLD 25/04/22 More Asia-Pacific cardinals to vote for next pope

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The European region remains overrepresented despite having a lower percentage of Catholics

21 cardinals-designate hailing from 18 nations received their red hats at a consistory on Dec. 7, 2024. (File photo: Vatican News)

By UCA News reporter

Published: April 22, 2025 11:06 AM GMT

Updated: April 22, 2025 12:04 PM GMT

The number of cardinals from the Asia-Pacific region eligible to vote for the next pope has increased by 80 percent during Pope Francis’ 12-year-long papacy, says a Pew Research report.

Cardinals under 80 years, the cut-off age for eligibility to vote in a conclave to elect a pope, have increased in the region from 10 in 2013 to 18 by 2025.

Francis’ picks for the College of Cardinals “tilted the leadership structure of the Roman Catholic Church away from its historic European base,” Pew Research Center said on April 21.

The College of Cardinals is leaning towards countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East-North Africa region.

Currently, the Church has 252 cardinals, 135 of them under 80 and eligible to vote in the election of the next pope, according to data published by the Vatican.

Among them, Pope Francis appointed 108 cardinals, or 80 percent of the electors. His predecessor, Benedict, named 22, and John Paul II named five.

The Pew Center noted that European cardinal voters declined from 51 percent in 2013 to 40 percent in 2025.

The number of cardinals also declined in North America from 12 percent in 2013 to 10 percent in 2025.

Meanwhile, Latin America and the Caribbean regions, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East–North Africa regions saw an increase in cardinal voters.

Francis, an Argentine who was the first pope from outside Europe since the eighth century, “still picked more cardinals from Europe than from any other region,” Pew Research noted.

Of the 108 cardinals Francis appointed and eligible to vote, 38 percent are from Europe.

This is followed by Latin America and the Caribbean and the Asia Pacific region (19 percent each), sub-Saharan Africa (12 percent), North America (seven percent), and the Middle East and North Africa (four percent).

Pew Research noted that the European region remains overrepresented considering its lower percentage of Catholics.

Europe has only 21 percent of the global Catholic population, but has 40 percent of the cardinals eligible for voting.

In contrast, the most underrepresented area is the Latin America-Caribbean region, home to 41 percent of the worldwide Catholic population. The region has only 18 percent of the voting cardinals, Pew Research reported, citing Vatican data from 2022.