The Twilight of the Cardinals

"Still almost too big a number"

The number of Cardinals is decreasing due to age. Observers already see a "purple twilight" in it. Vatican expert Ulrich Nersinger considers the historically still high number of Pope advisors to be an obstacle to communication.

DOMRADIO.DE: Traditionally, the weekends around the Solemnity of Peter and Paul on June 29 are a popular occasion for appointing cardinals. How was it this year?

Ulrich Nersinger (Vatican journalist and author): This year we have not experienced anything of the sort. As you say, the days around the Solemnity of Peter and Paul are a traditionally chosen time, but that did not happen this time.

There may be various reasons for this, one of which may be the Holy Father's illness.

But it is also not prescribed in this way – Cardinal appointments are also made on completely different dates.

DOMRADIO.DE: With regard to this topic, colleagues from the Catholic news agency now spoke of a "purple twilight". What do you mean with that?

Nersinger: Yes, I had to smile a little because that's an unjustified fear. If we look at the College of Cardinals, it has now become a relatively large body.

Around the time of Pope John XXIII. there were hardly 70 people, rather fewer, who had been made cardinals.

Ulrich Nersinger

"If you now say that there are only 121 eligible voters, that's still almost too big a number."

Today we have 222 living cardinals. Of these, 121 are eligible to vote, i.e. have not yet exceeded the age of 80. That's a relatively impressive and maybe a bit difficult number.

DOMRADIO.DE: Why is that difficult? What are you afraid of?

Nersinger: The cardinals should also be able to communicate with each other, they should know each other. Because in addition to advising the Pope, their main task is actually the election of a future pope.

And so it makes a lot of sense if you know each other, if you know what the individual concerns are on the individual continents, in the individual Roman congregations. And I think that's relatively difficult with such a large number of cardinals.

If you now say that there will only be 121 eligible voters, even if another seven Cardinals will presumably retire by the end of the year due to the age limit, that is still almost too large a number.

We see that too when we take a look at antiquity. The old Roman senate was always enlarged and had become less efficient with each enlargement.

DOMRADIO.DE: How will this affect the next Conclave?

Nersinger: Oh, that's a difficult question. We could hire betting shops to place bets on it. Of course, at the moment we also have the situation that a good two-thirds of the cardinals who are entitled to vote have been appointed by Pope Francis.

Ulrich Nersinger

"You could now think that the Pope has made provisions for the next Conclave. But that is a deception."

One could now think that the Pope has made provisions for the next conclave, also in terms of the line he is taking. But this is an illusion.

Because we have always seen in the past that cardinals who were appointed by a Pope, when the time had come and a new Conclave was due, then reacted differently and took different lines, came to different decisions.

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