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The Graphic Truth: Who’s choosing the next pope?

May 05, 2025
Tracy Moran

The conclave to select a new pontiff gets underway on May 7, 2025.

Who selects the next pope? Roman Catholic cardinals, and there are 252 of them worldwide, but only 135 are under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote for the successor to Pope Francis. Two of them, Antonio Cañizares of Spain and John Njue of Kenya, cannot attend, and of the 133 electors participating, Francis appointed 108 of them.

Is there a list of contenders? The cardinals can vote for their preferred colleague to take the top spot at the Vatican, and there’s no official shortlist of candidates. But there are a handful who are considered frontrunners — our sources say to look at French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle on the progressive end, and the Italian Cardinals Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Pietro Parolin for the conservatives.

All eyes will be on how the trajectory of the largest religious institution in world history shifts under a new pope.

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