The United States is the country of origin of 10 of the 133 cardinals eligible to vote for the next Pope of the Catholic Church. That is more than any nation, except Italy, home of 17 of the voters who will meet in the Vatican Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for the conclave that will choose a successor of Pope Francis.
Only four of the American voters actively serve as archbishops in the United States: Timothy Dolan from New York, Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey and Robert Mcelroy of Washington. Two are retired archbishops: Daniel Dinardo de Galveston-Houston and Wilton Gregory de Washington.
The other four cardinal races have included a long service in the Vatican: Robert Prevost, James Michael Harvey, Raymond Burke and Kevin Farrell.
Here are brief profiles of cardinal voters:
Burke, 76, a Catholic traditionalist solid, often faces With the most renovated Pope Francis. Born in Wisconsin, he was bishop there before serving as Archbishop of St. Louis from 2004 to 2008. Pope Benedict XVI had made Burke a cardinal in 2010, after he appointed him prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Superior Court of the Vatican. After Francis withdrew him from that position in 2014, he turned Burke into the Cardinal pattern of the Knights of Malta, a prestigious but limited role. There, also, Burke and Francis faced a governance crisis in the stable; Francis pushed him aside. Burke has been opened in saying that Catholic politicians should not appear for communion if they support abortion rights.
Cupich, 76, Chicago Archbishop, was a Close Francis advisor and has served in several Vatican committees. He is considered a moderate among his classmates, since he balanced conservative Catholic teachings on social issues such as same -sex marriage and abortion with the defense of compassionate responses to the affected communities. Cupich, who inherited Clergy ‘sexual abuse crisis In the dioceses he directed, he helped boost the reforms to combat the problem. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he was ordered in 1975 and appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1998 as a bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota. Pope Benedict XVI transferred him in 2010 to Spokane, Washington. In 2014, Francis, on his first important event in the United States as Pope, Chicago archbishopand made him a cardinal in 2016.
Dinardo, 75, retired this year this year as Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, the fifth largest American diocese, with 1.7 million Catholics. Dinardo was ordered in his native Diocese of Pittsburgh in 1977. He obtained titles from Catholic universities in Washington and Rome and worked in the Vatican office that supervises the quotes of the bishops. He served as a bishop of Sioux City, Iowa, before moving to Houston in 2004. Didardo was appointed Cardinal in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. He served as president of the US Catholic Bishops Conference. From 2016 to 2019. That was a tumultuous moment when the USCCB faced numerous accusations of cover -ups of sexual abuse by priests. Dinardo shared the strong support of Pope Francis for migrants while defending the traditional teachings of the Church on sexuality.
Dolan, 75, has been Archbishop in New York since 2009. He previously served almost seven years as a Milwaukee archbishop. He grew up in Missouri, where he was ordered in 1976. Among other duties, Dolan was president of Catholic Relief Services and fulfilled a term as president of the USCCB. In January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a cardinal. Dolan is widely seen as conservative; He wrote an opinion article of Wall Street Journal 2018 headed “The Democrats abandoned Catholics.” However, in 2023, he wrote a welcome letter to a conference at the University of Fordham celebrating Disclosure programs aimed at LGBTQ+ Catholics.
Farrell, 77, was selected by Pope Francis in 2019 to be The Camerlengothe Vatican official who directs the Holy See after Death of a Pope and before the choice of another. Farrell was born in Dublin in 1947, entered Christ’s religious order in 1966 and was ordered priest for order in 1978. He left six years later, before. revelations that its founder It was a pedophile, and became a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington. He worked in several parishes and helped manage finance for the archdiocese. He became Washington’s auxiliary bishop in 2001 and served under Excardinal Theodore McCarrick before becoming a bishop of Dallas in 2007.
Pope Francis hit Gregory To lead the Archdiocese of Washington in 2019 and made it the first black cardinal in the United States in 2020. Gregory, 77, retired earlier this year of leading the prominent archdiocese, which went through significant agitation. Its two previous leaders, McCarrick and Cardinal Donald WuerlThey were involved in a new wave of the scandal of sexual abuse of the clergy. Gregory has supported social justice and solidarity with immigrants. He drew warning for his relatively inclusive approach to LGBTQ+Catholics. He said An LGBTQ+ group In January: “I apologize for my own lack of courage to bring healing and hope, and I apologize.” Gregory was born in Chicago, where he was ordered in 1973 and served as an auxiliary bishop since 1983. After serving for 11 years as a bishop in Belleville, Illinois, he was named in 2004 by Pope John Paul II to be Archbishop of Atlanta.
Harvey, 76, has followed a long career in the Vatican, initially as a diplomat and more recently as manager of the papal house. Born in Milwaukee, he studied at the seminar there before completing his training in Rome. It was ordered by Pope Paul VI in Rome in 1975 and entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 1980. Pope John Paul II appointed Harvey Prefect of the Papal House in 1998, a position that implies the management of the Pope’s official activities. Harvey occupied that role for 24 years, under John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Benedict proclaimed Harvey a Cardinal in 2012.
Pope Francis called Mcelroy as Washington Archbishop In January, taking advantage of one of its most progressive allies to lead the Catholic Church in the US capital at the beginning of Donald Trump’s second term as president. Mcelroy criticized Trump’s threats of mass deportations of immigrants as “incompatible with Catholic doctrine.” Francis had appointed Mcelroy as bishop of San Diego in 2015 and raised it to the cardinal In 2022. Mcelroy, 71, was one of the few US bishops who attacked a campaign to exclude Catholic politicians who support the rights of abortion of communion. He has also expressed his support for greater LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Church. Native of San Franciscano, Mcelroy received a degree from Harvard, a master’s degree and doctorate from Stanford, and a doctorate from Gregorian University in Rome.
The Premost born in Chicago, 69, is the prefect of the powerful Vatican Dicastery for Bishops, in charge of the investigation of nominations for bishops around the world. He has extensive experience in Peru, first as a missionary and then archbishop. Francis looked at him for years, sending him to direct the diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, in 2014. He maintained that position until 2023, when Francis took him to Rome for his current role.
Tobin, 72, is the Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, and a veteran of the Vatican bureaucracy who speaks five languages. The Detroit native was ordered in 1978 and obtained the Master in Religious Education and Divinity at the Mount Saint Alphonsus Seminary in ESOPUS, New York. Pope Benedict XVI appointed Tobin in 2010 as secretary of the Vatican office that supervises religious orders. According to the reports, Tobin stirred the feathers when trying to repair their frayed ties with the nuns who face complaints that they had become too liberal. Benedict designated Tobin Archbishop of Indianapolis in 2012. Pope Francis He appointed him Cardenal and Newark Archbishop in 2016. Tobin welcomed Indiana Syrian refugees despite the opposition of the then road. Mike Pence. He has a Acceptance of posture towards people LGBTQ+.
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Seven American cardinals, because they are 80 years old or more, are not conclave voters: Edwin O’Brien, Roger Mahony, Adam Maida, Sean Patrick O’Malley, Justin Rigali, James Francis Stafford, Donald Wuerl.
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Ap Holly Meyer and Tiffany Stanley journalists contributed to this report.
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