Under Pope Francis, the College of Cardinals became less European

The College of Cardinals will soon convene to vote for a successor to Pope Francis, the first-ever Latin American pontiff, who died on April 21.

Over the course of his 12-year papacy, Francis’ picks for the College of Cardinals tilted the leadership structure of the Roman Catholic Church away from its historic European base and toward countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East-North Africa region.

There are 135 cardinals who are under 80 years old and thus eligible to vote in the coming papal election. Here’s a look at the regional breakdown of voting cardinals, compared with when Francis became pope in 2013:

• The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 18% of voting-age cardinals, up from 10% in 2013.
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 12% of cardinals, up from 8%.
• The Latin America-Caribbean region has 18%, up from 17%.
• The Middle East-North Africa region has 3%, up from 2%.
• Europe has 40%, down from 51%.
• North America accounts for 10%, down from 12%.

A look at Francis’ picks over time

Francis, an Argentine who was the first pope from outside Europe since the eighth century, still picked more cardinals from Europe than from any other region.

Of the 108 cardinals who were appointed by Francis and are currently eligible to vote, 38% are from Europe, 19% are from Latin America and the Caribbean, 19% are from the Asia-Pacific region, 12% are from sub-Saharan Africa, 7% are from North America and 4% are from the Middle East and North Africa.

Altogether, cardinals appointed by Francis make up 80% of the 135 voting members of the College of Cardinals. The remainder were appointed by Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II.

Cardinals and the world Catholic population

Vatican data from 2022 shows that 21% of the global Catholic population lives in Europe, so the continent remains heavily overrepresented among all voting cardinals (40% of whom are from Europe). By this measure, the most underrepresented region within the church’s leadership – even with Francis’ picks – is the Latin America-Caribbean region, which was home to 41% of the worldwide Catholic population as of 2022 but has only 18% of the voting cardinals.