College of Cardinals

The College of Cardinals (Latin: Collegium Cardinalium), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. As of 20 October 2025,^[update] there are 246 cardinals, of whom 127 are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, cardinals serve for life, but become ineligible to participate in a papal conclave if they turn 80 before a papal vacancy occurs.

Since the emergence of the College of Cardinals in the Early Middle Ages, the size of the body has historically been limited by popes, ecumenical councils ratified by the pope, and the college itself. The total number of cardinals from 1099 to 1986 has been about 2,900, nearly half of whom were created after 1655. This number excludes possible undocumented 12th-century cardinals and pseudocardinals appointed during the Western Schism by pontiffs now considered to be antipopes, and subject to some other sources of uncertainty.

The word cardinal is derived from the Latin cardō, meaning "hinge". The office of cardinal as it is known today slowly evolved during the first millennium from the clergy of Rome. "The first time that the term cardinal appears in the Liber Pontificalis is in the biography of Pope Stephen III when in the Roman Synod of 769, it was decided that the Roman pontiff should be elected from among the deacons and cardinal priests."

During the pontificate of Pope Stephen V (816–817), the three classes of the college that are present today began to form. Stephen V decreed that all cardinal bishops were bound to sing Mass on rotation at the high altar at St. Peter's Basilica, one per Sunday. The first class to form were the cardinal deacons, direct theological descendants of the original seven ordained in Acts 6, followed by the cardinal priests, and then the cardinal bishops.

In 845, the Council of Meaux–Paris "required bishops to establish cardinal titles or parishes in their towns and outlining districts". At the same time, the popes began referring to the cardinal priests of Rome to serve as legates and delegates within Rome at ceremonies, synods, councils, etc., as well as abroad on diplomatic missions and councils. Those who were assigned to the latter roles were given the titles of Legatus a Latere (Cardinal Legate) and Missus Specialis (Special Missions).

The college played an integral part in various reforms within the Church as well, as early as the pontificate of Pope Leo IX (1050). In the 12th century, the Third Council of the Lateran declared that only cardinals could assume the papacy, a requirement that has since lapsed.

From the 13th to 15th centuries, the size of the College of Cardinals never exceeded thirty, although there were more than thirty parishes and diaconal districts which could potentially have a titular holder. Pope John XXII (1316–1334) formalized this norm by limiting the college to twenty members. In the ensuing century, increasing the size of the college became a method for the pope to raise funds for construction or war, cultivate European alliances, and dilute the strength of the college as a spiritual and political counterweight to papal supremacy.

The conclave capitulation of the 1352 papal conclave limited the size of the college to 20, and decreed that no new cardinals could be created until the size of the college had dropped to 16. In 1353, Pope Innocent VI declared the capitulation invalid.