We are an international and independent team of Catholic journalists and researchers who have come together to assist members of the College of Cardinals by equipping them with in-depth profiles of the cardinals who would be pope.
Undertaken in association with Sophia Institute Press and Cardinalis Magazine, several dozen leading cardinal candidates to be pope have been thoroughly researched, with plans to release profiles of more.
Led by Vatican journalists Edward Pentin, author of the 2020 book The Next Pope (Sophia Institute Press), and Diane Montagna, executive director of the project, The College of Cardinals Report is the first initiative of its kind and comes in response to requests for such a resource from cardinals, clergy and laity.
So why is such a website necessary?
A cardinal’s most important task is to elect the next Pope. Indeed, the word “cardinal” has its roots in the Latin noun “cardo” meaning “hinge” that points to their pivotal role, just as a hinge is essential to the functioning of a door.
But to carry out this primary function well, the cardinals need to know as much as possible about the person for whom they are voting.
Historically, they have sought to inform themselves about their colleagues’ characters, beliefs and behaviors through private discussions and correspondence. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the number of cardinals would often number no more than a dozen, and being a smaller group, they likely knew each other fairly well already.
But even for a smaller College of Cardinals, these methods were limiting. As far back as the 1550s, and possibly earlier, public notices and precursors to newspapers were posted in Rome, providing some detail on the leading candidates.
These contained rudimentary details about the Princes of the Church, but they were often based on rumor which is always an untrustworthy informant.
For this reason, in later centuries, diplomats and other trusted scribes would compile more in-depth and reliable biographies of the cardinals and distribute them to interested parties. Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, president emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, has said these tableau de cardinaux dated back to the 18th century.
Such detailed manuscripts serve as precedents for this project.
Ironically today, despite copious information accessible on the internet and through a smartphone, this kind of detailed and reliable research is harder to find and so in greater demand than it was 500 years ago.
This is due not only to the significantly larger number of cardinals to choose from compared to centuries ago, but also because opportunities for them to get to know one another have greatly diminished.
This need became especially acute post-2014 when Pope Francis halted meetings of cardinals at cardinal-making consistories, thereby removing a helpful opportunity for them to become acquainted with one another.
Since he was elected Pope in 2013, Francis has also appointed 110 of the 138 cardinal-electors (as of February 17, 2025), and often the Holy Father has chosen less well known prelates to be cardinals from “periphery” locations in the developing world.
This website, therefore, aims to help bridge that knowledge gap, assisting the cardinal-electors in a modest way in their discernment as well as helping to inform the media and anyone interested on who could become the most influential religious leader on earth.
This website makes no prognostications on who could be the next pontiff beyond listing the leading candidates. Instead, our main and ultimate goal is to provide clear, extensive and reliable information on the cardinals.
Each completed profile comprises key biographical data, a summary of their main qualities and attributes, and extensive detail on how they have fulfilled the three main works or “offices” of bishop — sanctifying, governing, and teaching.
The College of Cardinals Report also provides, for completed profiles, a color-coded guide on where the cardinal stands on 10 key issues, while a user-friendly table enables readers to compare his positions to those of his brother cardinals. The website also provides an interactive map and statistics showing the geographical breakdown of the Sacred College.
For those profiles that are incomplete, we offer a basic summary of their background, achievements and matters of interest.
Another resource we offer as part of this project is our “Conclaves” section, where we provide a brief history of the cardinalate, discuss how the conclave works, and look at the qualities needed to be a pope.
Our approach is fact-based and we strive to be impartial, offering as accurate a picture as possible of the sort of man who might one day fill the shoes of the Fisherman.
