7 Quick facts about this year’s conclave

We're one week away from the start of the conclave. While things at the Vatican are going to be relatively quiet from now until May 7, here are some quick facts about this year's crop of cardinal-electors as they prepare to elect the new pope.

There are 133 cardinal-electors who will participate in this year's conclave, out of a total of 135 eligible cardinals.

(The two who will not be at the conclave are Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, archbishop emeritus of Valencia, Spain, and Cardinal John Njue, archbishop emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya.)

The number of voting cardinals is theoretically limited to 120, but Pope Francis, like his predecessors, has used that number as a general target, not a strict limit. (As electors turn 80 or cardinals die, the number naturally decreases between consistories.) There were 115 voters in the 2013 conclave, the previous record for the most voters.

Which raises another question: How are they all going to fit in the Sistine Chapel?

The youngest person in the conclave this year is Cardinal Mykola Bychok, 45. Bychok is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic cardinal from Australia. He turned 45 on February 13, two months and one week after being elevated to the College of Cardinals.

While Bychok is the youngest cardinal by five years, he's not the youngest cardinal ever to participate in a conclave. That honor is believed to belong to Cardinal Alfonso Gesualdo di Conza, who was just 25 years old during the 1565-1566 conclave.

The youngest pope is believed to be Pope Benedict IX, who was roughly 20 years old when he was elected in 1032.

The oldest cardinal-elector is Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, the archbishop emeritus of Madrid.

He is 79 years old, and he turns 80 on May 16, 2025.

Had he been born just under a month earlier, he would have been too old to enter the conclave. Cardinals' eligibility is based on their age at the time of the pope's death.

The 135 cardinal-electors come from all over the world, but more than a third are from Europe.

There are

While there are a handful of Catholic churches in Antarctica, the continent is under the jurisdiction of several different dioceses and there is no official bishop of Antarctica.

Italy has the most cardinal-electors of any country, with 17. This number does not include Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, or Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, both of whom were born and raised in Italy.

The United States has the next highest number, at 10, followed by Brazil at 7.

India and the Philippines have the most cardinal-electors of any Asian country, with four each, and Africa and Oceania's cardinals are all from different countries.

While Pope Francis appointed about 80% of the cardinal electors for this year's conclave and they are brand new to the process, five cardinals are making their third trek to the Vatican to vote for the successor of St. Peter.

They are:

Bonus fact: Cardinals Bozanić, Barbarin, Turkson, and Erdő were all elevated to the College of Cardinals in the same consistory back in 2003.

A total of 33 cardinals are members of religious orders, nearly 25% of the cardinal-electors.

The Salesians have the most, at five, followed by four members each of the Order of Friars Minor and Jesuits. There are three Conventual Franciscans, and two each of the Dominicans, Lazarists, Redemptorists, and two members of the Society of the Divine Word.

The Augustinians, Capuchins, Discalced Carmelites, Cistercians, Pius X Secular Institute, Consolata Missionaries, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Scalabrinians, and Spiritans each have one voting cardinal.

Pope Francis became the first Jesuit to be elected pope back in 2013.