21 Asian Cardinals eligible to vote for next pope including 5 from India

Asia has the second highest number of cardinal electors to choose the next pope, after Europe.

India has five, the only Asian country with the highest number and ranks fifth in the world together with France (same number), The four preceding countries include Italy, USA, Brazil and Spain.

Pope Francis will create 21 new cardinals at a consistory at the Vatican on August 27, including six from Asia.

The six new Asian cardinals are from India, Singapore, East Timor, South Korea, and Mongolia.
They are:

• Filipe Neri António Sebastião do Rosário Ferrão, 69, Archbishop of Goa, India
• Anthony Poola, 60, Archbishop of Hyderabad, India
• Virgilio do Carmo Da Silva, 54, a Salesian, Archbishop of Dili, East Timor
• William Goh Seng Chye, 62, Archbishop of Singapore
• Giorgio Marengo, 48, Italian Missionary of the Consolata and Apostolic Prefect of Ulan Bator in Mongolia
• Lazzaro You Heung-sik, 70, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy and Bishop Emeritus of Daejeon {Taejon}, South Korea.

Cardinals rank second only to the pope in the church hierarchy and serve as his closest advisers at home and around the world.

Pope St. Paul VI established in 1970 that cardinals over the age of 80 are barred from participating in the process of electing a pope; thus, cardinals under the age of 80 are referred to as "electors."

This is how this group will look after the August 27 consistory: Europe 53, Asia 21, Africa 17, North America 16, South America 15, Central America 7 and Oceania 3.

There will be 132 cardinal electors after the 2022 consistory, 6 will turn 80 by December 2022.

Here are the countries with the most cardinal electors: Italy 20, USA 10, Brazil 6, Spain 6, India 5, France 5, and Canada 4.

There will be 21 cardinal electors from Asia as of August 27. Five are from India, two from the Philippines, and one each from Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan, Laos, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Indonesia, Indonesia, Mongolia, Singapore, and East Timor.

In terms of Asian regions, the 21 Asian cardinal electors represent - eight each from South Asia and Southeast Asia, four from East Asia, and one from Western Asia.

Countries with a large Catholic population without cardinal electors are Ireland, China, Lebanon, Angola, Australia, and Vietnam.

The cardinal electors were created by the last three popes: Francis - 83 (63%), Benedict XVI - 38 (29%), and John Paul II - 11 (8%). Two-thirds of the votes are needed to elect a new pontiff, which means 66.6%.