Pope Francis () created cardinals at ten consistories held at roughly annual intervals beginning in 2014 and for the last time on 7 December 2024. The cardinals created by Francis include 163 cardinals from 76 countries, 25 of which had never been represented in the College of Cardinals. His appointments include the first Scandinavian since the Reformation, the first from Goa since an episcopal see was established there in 1533, the first from Latin America's indigenous peoples, the first from India's Dalit community, and the first active head of a religious congregation. He also appointed Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost in 2023, who later became Pope Leo XIV following Francis's death in April 2025.
Following the 2024 consistory, 110 of the cardinal electors had been appointed by Francis, 24 by Pope Benedict XVI, and 6 by Pope John Paul II. Each of Francis's consistories increased the number of cardinal electors from at or less than the set limit of 120 to a number higher than 120, as high as 140 in 2024, surpassing the record 135 set by Pope John Paul II in 2001 and 2003. Since 2 June 2023, two-thirds of the cardinal electors have been cardinals created by Francis. The December 2024 consistory increased that to about 79%, and 81% of the electors who participated in the 2025 papal conclave were created by Francis.
Francis shifted membership in the College of Cardinals away from Europe. The conclave that chose his successor was the first where Europeans did not account for a majority of electors, instead only making up 40% of them.
Cardinal electors Francis's consistories all brought the number of cardinal electors above the maximum of 120 introduced by Pope Paul VI, reaching between 121 and 140 electors, and remaining higher than 120 for over a year following the 2023 consistory. His predecessors had also exceeded the 120 limit on several occasions: Paul VI himself had increased the number of cardinal electors to 134 in 1969, before he introduced the 120 limit in 1975. Pope John Paul II brought the number as high as 135 in 2001 and 2003, while Pope Benedict XVI's highest was 125 in 2012.
Francis's first four consistories increased the number of electors above 120 modestly for short periods: to 122 in 2014 for less than a month, to 125 in 2015 for two months, to 121 in 2016 for two weeks, and to 121 in 2017 for ten weeks.
In the June 2018 consistory, Francis again increased the number of cardinal electors to 125, and the count only fell to 120 after ten months. The October 2019 consistory increased the number of electors to 128. The 80th birthdays of four electors reduced that number to 124 in two weeks, but almost a year passed before the number of cardinal electors fell to 120 on 29 September 2020. The November 2020 consistory raised the number of electors to 128 again, but their number returned to 120 a little more quickly than after the previous consistory, on 7 November 2021. The August 2022 consistory raised the number of cardinal electors to 132, with the 80th birthdays of electors set to reduce that figure to 120 in little more than a year, shortened by the death of Richard Baawobr in November 2022 to 11 months.
The September 2023 consistory raised the number of cardinal electors to 137, a record at the time; it offered the possibility that the number of electors would exceed 120 until Oswald Gracias turned 80 on 24 December 2024, but the number fell to 120 with the death of Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot on 25 November 2024. After Francis created 20 electors on 7 December 2024, the number of cardinal electors was 140, a new record high. The number of cardinal-electors only fell to 120 on 15 April 2026, with the 80th birthday of Fernando Filoni.
At the time of the 2025 conclave, held on 7–8 May 2025 after the death of Pope Francis, there were 135 cardinal electors, marking the first time since the promulgation of Universi Dominici gregis that the number of cardinal-electors went above 120. The general congregations of the College of Cardinals allowed all cardinal electors to participate in the conclave. The absence of two cardinal electors due to health reasons, left 133 cardinal electors participating at that conclave, which elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, one of the cardinals created by Francis, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.
22 February 2014 On 31 October 2013, Pope Francis announced plans to name new cardinals in a consistory on 22 February 2014. In December 2013, he said that rumors that he might name a woman cardinal were not to be taken seriously. He announced the names of 19 new cardinals on 12 January 2014. Sixteen were under the age of 80, eligible to vote in papal conclaves. Observers attempting to interpret Francis' approach to naming cardinals noted the absence of certain names, including the heads of the dioceses of Venice and Turin and the Vatican Librarian and Archivist. Others noted a preference for clerics with pastoral experience and only a single theologian, Müller. John L. Allen said the choices made the February meeting the "Consistory of the Periphery", noting the "broad global distribution" of the new cardinals. Of the nomination of the archbishop of Perugia rather than those of more prestigious dioceses like Turin and Venice, La Stampa said: "Any career planners in the Church who had the path from the seminary to the cardinalship set out very clearly in their minds will have to think again."
Pope Francis sent a letter to each cardinal-designate that said:
Those made cardinal at the consistory were:
No. Name Title when named cardinalCountry1.Pietro Parolin (b. 1955) Secretary of State2.Lorenzo Baldisseri (b. 1940) Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops3.Gerhard Ludwig Müller (b. 1947) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith4.Beniamino Stella (b. 1941) Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy5.Vincent Gerard Nichols (b. 1945) Archbishop of Westminster6.Leopoldo José Brenes Solórzano (b. 1949) Archbishop of Managua7.Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, I.S.P.X. (b. 1957) Archbishop of Quebec8.Jean-Pierre Kutwa (b. 1945) Archbishop of Abidjan9.Orani João Tempesta, O.Cist. (b. 1950) Archbishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro10.Gualtiero Bassetti (b. 1942) Archbishop of Perugia-Città della Pieve11.Mario Aurelio Poli (b. 1947) Archbishop of Buenos Aires12.Andrew Yeom Soo-jung (b. 1943) Archbishop of Seoul13.Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, S.D.B. (b. 1942) Archbishop of Santiago de Chile14.Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo (b. 1945) Archbishop of Ouagadougou15.Orlando Beltrán Quevedo, O.M.I. (b. 1939) Archbishop of Cotabato16.Chibly Langlois (b. 1958) Bishop of Les Cayes17.Loris Francesco Capovilla (1915–2016) Prelate Emeritus of Loreto18.Fernando Sebastián Aguilar, C.M.F. (1929–2019) Archbishop Emeritus of Pamplona y Tudela19.Kelvin Edward Felix (1933–2024) Archbishop Emeritus of Castries Pope emeritus Benedict XVI attended the consistory. He doffed his zucchetto when Pope Francis came down the nave of St. Peter's Basilica to greet him, and took a seat in a row with several cardinals using a chair the same as theirs. Loris Francesco Capovilla was granted a dispensation and did not attend the consistory.
Though a cardinal who is not an ordinarytypically an official of the Roman Curiais normally assigned the rank of cardinal deacon, Parolin was made a cardinal priest, as is customary in the case of the Holy See's secretary of state.
Prior to this consistory, there were 106 cardinals under the age of 80 and eligible to participate in the election of a pope, and the addition of 16 new cardinals under age 80 brought the total to 122, although another 10 were due to turn 80 in the remainder of 2014. Because the maximum number of cardinals allowed to participate in a papal conclave is set at 120, the number of cardinals below 80 is usually limited to 120, although that limit has occasionally been exceeded. The appointments brought the total number of cardinals to 218.
14 February 2015 On 11 December 2014, the Vatican announced that new cardinals would be created at a consistory on 14 February 2015. On 4 January 2015, Pope Francis announced the names of 20 cardinals-designate, including 15 who were under the age of 80. Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said the list "confirms that the pope doesn't feel tied to the traditional 'cardinal sees'", like Turin and Venice, "which reflected historic reasons in various countries. Instead we have various nominations of archbishops or bishops of sees in the past that wouldn't have had a cardinal." The selections continued the pattern Pope Francis established the previous year, showing a "preference for diocesan bishops" and for the Southern Hemisphere. Of those under the age of 80, only one is a member of the Curia (Mamberti); three are bishops rather than archbishops; four are the first cardinals from their countries (Cape Verde, Myanmar, Panama, Tonga) and others from a diocese that has not had one for decades (Agrigento, Italy, not since 1786; Ancona, Italy, not in more than a century; Montevideo, Uruguay, not since 1979; Valladolid, Spain, not since 1919) or never had one (Morelia, Mexico). Nine have been elected by their peers as president of a national or regional episcopal conference. These appointments brought the number of cardinal electors to 125, while two electors would turn 80 in April. The total number of cardinals reached 227 after the consistory.
On 23 January 2015, Pope Francis advised each nominee how to respond to his appointment: "Accept it with humility. Only do so in a way that in these celebrations there does not creep in a spirit of worldliness that intoxicates more than grappa on an empty stomach, disorienting and separating one from the cross of Christ."
The cardinals were invited to a consistory on 12–13 February devoted to presenting a preliminary plan for the reform of the Roman Curia to the entire College of Cardinals. Nineteen of the twenty cardinals-designate attended along with 148 of the 207 cardinals.
No. Name Title when named cardinalCountry1.Dominique Mamberti (b. 1952) Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura2.Manuel José Macário do Nascimento Clemente (b. 1948) Patriarch of Lisbon3.Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel, C.M. (b. 1948) Archbishop of Addis Abeba4.John Atcherley Dew (b. 1948) Archbishop of Wellington5.Edoardo Menichelli (1939–2025) Archbishop of Ancona-Osimo6.Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn (b. 1938) Archbishop of Hanoi7.Alberto Suárez Inda (b. 1939)Archbishop of Morelia8.Charles Maung Bo, S.D.B. (b. 1948) Archbishop of Yangon9.Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit (b. 1949) Archbishop of Bangkok10.Francesco Montenegro (b. 1946) Archbishop of Agrigento11.Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet, S.D.B. (b. 1959) Archbishop of Montevideo12.Ricardo Blázquez Pérez (b. 1942) Archbishop of Valladolid13.José Luis Lacunza Maestrojuán, O.A.R. (b. 1944) Bishop of David14.Arlindo Gomes Furtado (b. 1949) Bishop of Santiago de Cabo Verde15.Soane Patita Paini Mafi (b. 1961) Bishop of Tonga16.José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez (1919–2019) Archbishop Emeritus of Manizales17.Luigi De Magistris (1926–2022) Pro-Major Penitentiary Emeritus18.Karl-Josef Rauber (1934–2023) Apostolic Nuncio (retired)19.Luis Héctor Villalba (b. 1934) Archbishop Emeritus of Tucumán20.Júlio Duarte Langa (1927–2026) Bishop Emeritus of Xai-Xai
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI again attended the consistory and was greeted by Pope Francis before and after the ceremony. The only new cardinal unable to attend was Archbishop José de Jesús Pimiento Rodríguez, whose health prevented him from traveling to Rome.
19 November 2016