Two Catholic cardinals will not participate in next week’s conclave to elect a new pope due to health concerns, the Vatican announced on Tuesday, April 29, reducing the number of expected electors to 133.
Although the Vatican did not name the absent cardinals, a source within the archdiocese of Valencia confirmed to AFP that Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, would not be attending the conclave for health reasons.
A total of 135 cardinals are eligible to vote in the secret election, which will be held in the Sistine Chapel beginning May 7. The process, steeped in tradition, is expected to last several days.
With two electors now ruled out, the threshold for election, a two-thirds majority, falls to 89 votes. The conclave follows the recent end of Pope Francis’s papacy, and speculation is mounting over who might be chosen as his successor, with several names circulating among Vatican observers and insiders.
