There Are Now 122 Papal Electors

As of yesterday, 122 cardinals are eligible to vote in the conclave.

(Rome / Manila) Yesterday Cardinal Orlando Beltran Quevedo completed his 80th year. Thus, 122 cardinals are currently eligible to vote in a conclave. In the autumn, new cardinal appointments by Pope Francis could be forthcoming.

Cardinal Quevedo was born on March 11, 1939 in the northern Philippine city of Laoag on the South China Sea. Since 1954 he has belonged to the Order of the Oblates of the Immaculate Virgin Mary (OMI). He was ordained a priest in 1964 after completing his novitiate in Texas and his studies in the United States.

Cardinal Quevedo

In the same year he became chaplain of the cathedral parish of the Diocese of Cotabato. He spent all his priestly life on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Three quarters of the islanders are Christians. Two thirds of them are Catholics. In addition, there is a fifth of Muslims, which in the past has led to political and problems of violence.

He became Dean of Studies at the University of Cotabato and finally Rector of this University. In 1980, John Paul II appointed him bishop and prelate of Kidapawan. In 1982, when the Pope elevated the prelature to the suffragan of the archdiocese of Cotabato, Msgr. Quevedo became its first bishop. In the diocese is the Apo, which is the highest mountain in the Philippines at almost 3,000 meters.

In 1986, John Paul II made him archbishop of Nueva Segovia and in 1998 archbishop of Cotabato. From 1999 to 2003 he was President of the Philippine Episcopal Conference. In 2014, Pope Francis created him cardinal. His Roman titular church is the parish church of Santa Maria Regina Mundi and Torre Spaccata, built in 1970.

Cardinal Quevedo was almost 80 years old when Pope Francis made emeritus archbishop of Cotabato. Under Francis this means a very special appreciation. At the level of the universal Church, the cardinal has not been noticed. His elevation to  cardinal goes back to his personal contact with Pope Francis, who met the Filipino at the CELAM meeting of Latin American bishops in Aparecida in 2007, which plays a central role for Francis, as he edited the final document. Quevedo took part as representative of the bishops of Asia.

With the departure of the Filipino Cardinal from the electoral body, 122 cardinals remain eligible to vote in the conclave. These are two more than the limit set by John Paul II. This will be reached next April 27th. Until then, Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of Baltimore, and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Emeritus Archbishop of Krakow and longtime personal secretary to John Paul II, have left the circle of papal electors. Both were elevated by Pope Benedict XVI.  to the rank of cardinal.

By the end of 2019, the number of papal electors  will drop to 114. After April 27, another six cardinals will reach the age of 80: Cardinal Tong Hon (Hong Kong, PRC) on 31 July, Cardinal Brady (Ireland) on 16 August, Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya (Congo) on 7 October, Cardinal Grocholewski (Poland) on 11 October, Cardinal Menichelli (Italy) on 14 October and Cardinal Toppo (India) on 15 October.

The exact number may change, however, as the conclave of 2013 showed, in which Cardinal Walter Kasper was still eligible to vote - and became the master builder of the current pontificate - even though he was already over 80.

In 2020, another four electors will leave (the Maronite Cardinal Raï, Cardinal Vicini Vallini, Synod Secretary Cardinal Baldisseri and Cardinal Wuerl, who was prematurely retired as Archbishop of Washington as part of the sexual abuse scandal in the United States).

If not already in the autumn of 2019, no later than 2020, new cardinal appointments by Pope Francis can be expected.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Picture: MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG