25-04-2025
Could the next pope be a cardinal from St. Louis?
ST. LOUIS – Vatican City thrums with activity in the wake of Pope Francis' death, who passed away Monday at age 88 from heart failure caused by a stroke. While the late pontiff lies in state at St. Peter's Basilica ahead of Saturday's planned funeral, the College of Cardinals readies for the responsibility of filling the papal interregnum.
Following Pope Francis' funeral and burial at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, select members of College of Cardinals will sequester themselves inside the Sistine Chapel to choose a successor.
Among the North American cardinal electors, 10 are from the United States. Of those 10, two have ties to St. Louis: Cardinals Raymond L. Burke and Timothy M. Dolan.
Burke, 76, served as archbishop for the St. Louis Archdiocese from January 2004 to May 2008, when he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to positions in the Roman Curia, among them the Congregation of the Clergy. Burke was elevated a cardinal in Nov. 20, 2010, and he participated in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis.
Deemed one of the more conservative cardinals, Burke routinely challenged Francis' more progressive views of contraception, the LGBTQ+ community, civil marriages, and capital punishment, as well as the Vatican's COVID-19 response.
Pope Francis eventually removed Burke from the Congregation of the Clergy and his post on the Apostolic Signatura, the high court of the Catholic Church. However, the pope would eventually reappoint Burke to the high court.
Francis named Burke patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta in November 2014, but removed the cardinal from that position in June 2023.
'He left me with a title, but I don't have a function…it's clear that the pope doesn't want me in any leadership position, that he doesn't see me as the kind of person he wants to be giving any strong direction to things. But I've never had the impression that he thinks I'm his enemy,' Burke said in the interview.
Dolan, 75, was born in St. Louis in 1950 and grew up in Ballwin, Missouri, attending Holy Infant. He entered Kenrick-Glennon Seminary (then Saint Louis Preparatory Seminary) in Shrewsbury in 1964. He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Cardinal Glennon College and was ordained in June 1976. He celebrated his first mass at Holy Infant Parish.
Pope John Paul II named Dolan auxiliary bishop of St. Louis in June 2001. The following year, he was appointed archbishop of Milwaukee. In February 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Dolan the archbishop of New York.
Dolan was elevated to cardinal on Feb. 18, 2012, and would participate in the conclave to elect Pope Francis. During the 2013 conclave, Dolan was briefly mentioned as a possible contender for the papacy.
He served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2010 to 2013.
Like his colleague Burke, Dolan is among the conservative wing of the cardinalate. He opposes gay marriage; and while he welcomed gays to march in New York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, Dolan did not agree with Pope Francis' more opening stance on the issue. The cardinal has previously chastised both Republicans and Democrats on matters of gun control and abortion, respectively.
In addition, Dolan has opposed the demonization of immigrants. He penned a 2023 op-ed saying members of all faiths 'have a moral duty to welcome, clothe, feed and respect newcomers, no matter how they got here.'
The Catholic Church recognizes 264 men having held the title of Pontifex Maximus across 266 official papal reigns (Pope Benedict IX, who holds the distinction of being the youngest pope in history, was Bishop of Rome on three separate occasions) over its two millennia history.
Under governing rules, Cardinals under the age of 80 at the time of the papal vacancy (in this case, April 21) are eligible to participate. Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, only 135 meet the requirement to serve as electors.
At the time of this writing, two of those cardinals have said they will be unable to attend for health reasons, bringing the number of electors to 133. A papal candidate must receive two-thirds of the participating electors; in this case, 89 votes. Four rounds of voting are held each day until a candidate reaches that two-thirds threshold.
While any baptized Catholic male in the world is eligible to be elected, the next pope is typically chosen from the electors within the College of Cardinals. The last non-cardinal to be elected pope? Pope Urban VI in 1378.
When they aren't voting, the 133 cardinal electors will reside in dormitories within Vatican City. Europe will have the most electors, with 51 (17 from Italy alone); followed by Asia, with 23; North America, with 20; Africa and South America have 18 and 17 electors, respectively; and the Oceania region has 4.
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