These are the five cardinals of the State with the right to vote in the conclave

BarcelonaWiththe death of Pope FrancisThe transition period for choosing a new pontiff begins, a process called "his vacancy," which will culminate in the election of a successor. Meanwhile, the interim government of the Church will be confined to the College of Cardinals, and the new pope will be chosen during the conclave, the meeting of the cardinal electors. The College of Cardinals is made up of 252 cardinals, but only 135 have the right to vote: those under 80 years of age. Of these, five are Spanish: the Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​​​Joan Josep Omella; the Archbishop of Madrid, José Cobo; the Archbishop Emeritus of Madrid, Carlos Osoro; the Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Ángel Fernández; and the Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, Antonio Cañizares, who will not travel to Rome for health reasons.

Of these five cardinals, the first four were appointed by Pope Francis, the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff in history, who has worked tirelessly in the last twelve years for a More open Church. During his tenure, he has faced unprecedented attacks from a conservative minority more aligned with his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who appointed Cañizares a cardinal. This faction is very likely to try to influence the selection of his successor. Aside from these five names, other Spanish cardinals will also participate in the conclave, such as the Archbishop of Rabat, Cristóbal López, and Francisco Javier Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio, Corsica.

The date the meeting will begin has yet to be determined, but the norm stipulates that it must begin between 15 and 20 days after the Pope's death. It will begin with a Mass, and then the cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel, where they will vote secretly and repeatedly until one candidate obtains two-thirds of the votes in favor. These votes last an average of four to five days. Cardinals are prohibited from any type of external communication to ensure they act without any political influence that could influence their vote. If anyone breaks this silence, they are excommunicated, and any of the 252 cardinals is a potential candidate for the papacy, regardless of whether they have the right to vote.

Joan Josep Omella

Of the four Spanish cardinals who will vote, the best known in our country is the Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​Joan Josep Omella (Cretas, 1946). He studied at the seminary in Zaragoza, was ordained in 1970, and in 1996 was appointed auxiliary bishop of the Aragonese capital after working as a coadju in the current Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1999, he was appointed bishop of the diocese of Barbastro-Montsó, in 2004 of the diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada-Logroño, and finally, in 2015, his appointment as Archbishop of Barcelona was made public. He is a member of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and has been a cardinal for two years under Pope Francis, with whom he has enjoyed remarkable rapport and closeness.

Among the fifteen youngest cardinals called to the conclave is a representative of the State, José Cobo (Jaén, 1965). He graduated in law from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1988, the same year he entered the seminary in the Spanish capital, and later completed his moral studies at the Redemptorist Institute of Moral Sciences at the Pontifical University of Comillas. In 1994, he was ordained a priest, worked as a parish vicar, parish priest, archpriest, and episcopal vicar until, in 2017, he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Madrid. Five years later, he became archbishop of the same city. Pope Francis also made him a cardinal in 2023, and since last year, he has been the vice president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference.

Carlos Osoro

Carlos Osoro (Castañeda, 1945) studied teaching, pedagogy, and mathematics and worked as a professor until he entered the seminary for late vocations at the Colegio Mayor El Salvador in Salamanca. There he studied philosophy and theology until he was ordained a priest in 1973 in Santander, the diocese where he carried out his priestly ministry. In 1997, he was appointed Bishop of Ourense; Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Valencia in 2009; and in 2014, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Madrid. Two years later, he also made him a cardinal.

Ángel Fernández

Pope Francis also made Ángel Fernández (1960, Luanco) a cardinal. Fernández made his first vows in 1978, his perpetual vows in 1984, and was ordained a priest in 1987 in León after earning licentiates in pastoral theology and in philosophy and pedagogy. In 2014, he was chosen as the new rector major of the Salesian Congregation and the tenth successor to Don Bosco, the congregation's founder. In 2020, he was elected for a second six-year term, and earlier this year, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

Antonio Cañizares

The latest cardinal to be called to the conclave is the Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, Antonio Cañizares (Utiel, 1945), but sources within the archdiocese have confirmed to ARA that he will not be traveling to Rome for health reasons. Cañizares completed his ecclesiastical studies at the diocesan seminary in Valencia and at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, where he earned a doctorate in theology. He was ordained a priest in 1970. He served as Bishop of Ávila, Archbishop of Toledo, and Archbishop of Valencia, and was appointed cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI.