SINGAPORE: Pope Francis personally installed new skulls on the heads of 20 new cardinals on Saturday, reminding them that cardinals love the Catholic Church, whether they focus on questions big or small.

Francis has some control over the choice of his successor after resigning as pope as he names new cardinals. Members of the College of Cardinals are allowed to vote for the next pope as long as they are 80 years of age or younger.

16 of the 20 new cardinals fit that description. The College has 226 Cardinals, and 132 of them are currently eligible to vote.
Francis will have selected 83 of the 132 cardinals currently eligible to elect a new pope by the end of this weekend.

This is the percentage required for passage of any proposed name, which is about two-thirds of the total.

Since 2013 Pope Francis has designated eight groups of cardinals. Most of the current cardinals were elected by him; All other active cardinals were elected by either Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, or John Paul II, who died in 2005.

Some are puzzled by the timing of the promotion ceremony as it is not usually an August event. The cardinals will meet in Rome for two days to discuss the document that will serve as the Vatican's constitution; The meeting is scheduled to begin on Monday.

However, there are rumors circulating that Francis may be laying the groundwork for his departure. He is showing 85 years of age.

And while the pope has traditionally served until his death, Benedict XVI demonstrated that it was not the only option when he resigned in 2013, paving the way for Francis to succeed him. Benedict, now 95 years old, assumed the title of Pope Emeritus and continued to live in the Vatican.

Noting that his church community in Mongolia has only 1,500 members, he continued that this was a sign of the Vatican opening up to smaller communities.

Archbishop Adalberto Martínez Flores of Paraguay and William Goh of Singapore were two additional candidates who attracted the attention of the audience.

According to church historian Johannes Grohe, the internationalization of the College of Cardinals has been increasing over the past ten years. Not only that, but the most recent round left a large number of archbishops out of areas that usually produce cardinals.

Only one new cardinal, Richard Kuia Bawobre of Ghana, could not attend in person due to health problems.

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