Two senior African cardinals — Cardinal Philippe Ouédraogo of Burkina Faso and Cardinal John Njue of Kenya — pass the age of 80 and therefore exit the ranks of cardinal electors.
Cardinals who are older than 80 on the day of the death of a pope cannot vote in the conclave to elect his successor. They continue as cardinals though.
Cardinal Ouédraogo turned 80 on December 31, 2025; Cardinal Njue follows on January 1, 2026. With their birthdays, both men lost the right to vote in a conclave.
The immediate result is striking: the College of Cardinals now counts 123 electors and 122 non-electors, placing the Church on the brink of a historic reversal.
That reversal is expected within days. On January 5, Cardinal Mario Zenari will reach 80, at which point — barring unforeseen circumstances — the number of non-electing cardinals will exceed electors for the first time in Church history.
The change is more than statistical.
The College will somehow reflect society at large, with the aging population characterizing many countries.
Africa
Cardinal Ouédraogo’s career has embodied the Church’s moral and mediating role in the Sahel. Born in northern Burkina Faso into a family of Muslim origin, ordained in 1973, and trained in canon law in Rome, he became a major voice for interreligious dialogue amid the spread of jihadist violence after 2011.
Created cardinal by Pope Francis in 2014, he participated in the May 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, after his official birth date was clarified in light of incomplete colonial-era records.
Cardinal Njue, long regarded as a stabilizing figure in Kenya’s public life, shaped the Church during a period marked by ethnic tensions and terrorist violence.
Ordained a priest by Pope Paul VI in St. Peter’s Basilica in 1973, he rose to become archbishop of Nairobi in 2007 and served nearly a decade as president of the Kenyan bishops’ conference.
Although eligible in principle, he did not attend the 2025 conclave due to health concerns. His leadership during the 2015 Garissa university massacre — when he spoke of praying even for the attackers — remains emblematic of his pastoral approach.
Their transition to non-elector status slightly reduces Africa’s voting presence in future conclaves, but it also highlights a broader reality shaped by Pope Francis’ pontificate.
The consistent creation of cardinals from the global peripheries, often pushing past the theoretical cap of 120 electors set by Paul VI, has produced an unusually large body of senior cardinals whose authority is no longer juridical but moral.
With the threshold now crossed and a majority of non-electors imminent, the Church enters new territory.
Institutional memory, global experience, and pastoral wisdom increasingly belong to those who no longer vote, but bring immeasurable benefit through their presence.
How that dynamic shapes this young pontificate and eventually the next conclave — and the governance that precedes it — may prove one of the quiet legacies of this moment.