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thumb|upright|alt=Generic depiction of a cardinal's choir dress|[[Choir dress of a cardinal, in scarlet]]
Cardinals are senior members of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome. They are typically ordained bishops and generally hold important roles within the church, such as leading prominent archdioceses or heading dicasteries within the Roman Curia. Cardinals are chosen by the pope and formally created in a consistory, and one of their foremost duties is the election of a new pope – invariably from among their number, although not strictly a requirement – when the Holy See is vacant (sede vacante), following the death or resignation of a pope. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals.
Under current ecclesiastical law, as defined by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis (1996), only cardinals who have not passed their 80th birthdays on the day on which the Holy See becomes vacant are eligible to take part in a papal conclave to elect a new pope. The same apostolic constitution specifies that no more than 120 cardinals may take part in a conclave, but makes no provision for there being more than 120 eligible cardinal electors, Cardinals may be created in pectore (), in which case the pope does not reveal their identities; they are not entitled to the privileges of a cardinal until their names are published by the pope. The creations of any such cardinals whose names have not been revealed before the pope's death or resignation automatically lapse.
<section begin="as of"/><!-- Change this date only when the numbers in the paragraph are updated. --><section end="as of" /> there are <section begin="all" />242<section end="all" /> cardinals, <section begin="electors" />117<section end="electors" /> of whom are cardinal electors. The most recent consistory for the creation of cardinals was held on 7 December 2024, when Pope Francis created 21 cardinals, including 20 cardinal electors. Francesco Montenegro was the most recent cardinal elector to turn 80, on 22 May 2026. Michael Czerny will be the next cardinal elector to turn 80, on 18 July 2026. The most recent death of a cardinal was that of Emil Paul Tscherrig on 12 May 2026, at the age of 79.<!-- The preceding reference is for the most recent death of a cardinal, from a reliable news source (ideally in English) and preferably archived with the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. -->
Orders of the College of Cardinals, and order of precedence
The College of Cardinals is divided into three orders, with formal precedence in the following sequence: as well as patriarchs who lead one of the Eastern Catholic Churches.