Cardinals Wear Red and Bishops Purple, but Here Is the Difference Between the Two

135 cardinals will elect the next pope. Francis picked 108 of them.

As more than a billion Catholics mourn the death of Pope Francis, cardinals around the world are preparing to travel to Rome to begin the solemn tradition of choosing a new pontiff. And when the prelates gather at the Vatican in the coming weeks to elect a new Bishop of Rome, Francis, who died at age 88 on April 21, stands to have an outsize impact on the vote.

Cardinals Wear Red and Bishops Purple, but Here Is the Difference Between the Two

Cardinals are getting ready to vote on who the next pope will be, but some have noticed that they seem to be wearing both purple and red.

Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, is one of six Mexican cardinals who will attend along with 128 cardinals

Under Pope Francis, the College of Cardinals became less European

The College of Cardinals will soon convene to vote for a successor to Pope Francis, the first-ever Latin American pontiff, who died on April 21. Over the course of his 12-year papacy, Francis’ picks for the College of Cardinals tilted the leadership structure of the Roman Catholic Church away from its historic European base and toward countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East-North Africa region. There are 135 cardinals who ar…

A total of 135 cardinals under the age of 80 are part of the college of electors that will have to gather in the Vatican to elect the successor of Pope Francis.