OF THE 135 cardinal-electors, five members of the Order of Preachers and the Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic are set to take part in the upcoming conclave to elect the 267th pope of the Catholic Church.
All five were elevated to the cardinalate by the late Pope Francis.
Representing the Order of Preachers are Cardinals Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. and Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., who were both among the 21 cardinals last created by Pope Francis in a December 2024 consistory.
Radcliffe was the master of the Order from 1992 to 2001. As head of the Dominicans during the time, he was also ex-officio grand chancellor of the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas.
The 79-year-old is one of three English cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave and is among the oldest cardinals to participate.
Joining him is Vesco, the 63-year-old archbishop of Algiers, who served as prior provincial of the French Dominicans in 2010.
Vesco will vote alongside another French cardinal who is considered one of the five veterans of the conclave, having been appointed by Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.
Radcliffe and Vesco were counted by the Vatican as two of the 33 cardinal-electors belonging to 18 different religious orders.
Meanwhile, the three other Dominican cardinals belong to the Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic, which consists of diocesan priests affiliated with the Order of the Preachers by following St. Dominic’s ministry.
Cardinal Francis Leo, 59, is the Archbishop of Toronto who professed to the third order in 2008. He is also among the last cardinals elevated by Pope Francis.
Another 59-year-old elector is Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education under the late pope.
Tolentino de Mendonça, a Portuguese poet, recently received the Dominican habit in 2020.
The last Dominican cardinal-elector is Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula.
Advincula, 73, is the first UST alumnus to vote in the conclave and is among the three Filipino cardinal-electors, alongside Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle and Pablo Virgilio David.
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Advincula, who was made cardinal in 2020, joined the Dominican family during his canon law studies at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas.
Non-voting Dominican cardinals are Vienna Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Prague Archbishop Emeritus Cardinal Dominik Duka.
Only 133 cardinal-electors will be sealed off inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican after two backed out due to health issues.
The upcoming conclave is the least Eurocentric in centuries, with the cardinal-electors hailing from 71 different countries across five continents.
One-hundred eight were appointed by Pope Francis.
