College of Cardinals

Gilberto Agustoni, 77 (Switzerland)
Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic, 70 (Canada)
Fiorenzo Angelini, 83 (Italy)
Lorenzo Antonetti, 77 (Italy)
Luis Aponte Martinez, 77 (Puerto Rico)
Juan Carlos Aramburu, 88 (Argentina)
Serafim Fernandes de Araújo, 75 (Brazil)
Francis Arinze, 67 (Nigeria)
Paulo Evaristo Arns, 78 (Brazil)
Corrado Bafile, 97 (Italy)
William Wakefield Baum, 73 (USA)
Paolo Bertoli, 92 (Italy)
Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua, 77 (USA)
Giacomo Biffi, 72 (Italy)
Giovanni Canestri, 81 (Italy)
Giuseppe Caprio, 85 (Italy)
Ricardo María Carles Gordó, 73 (Spain)
Gerald Emmett Carter, 88 (Canada)
Giuseppe Casoria, 91 (Italy)
Edward Idris Cassidy, 76 (Australia)
Rosalio José Castillo Lara, 77 (Venezuela)
Dario Castrillón Hoyos, 71 (Colombia)
Marco Cé, 75 (Italy)
Giovanni Cheli, 81 (Italy)
Edward Bede Clancy, 76 (Australia)
Francesco Colasuonno, 75 (Italy)
Ernesto Corripio Ahumada, 81 (Mexico)
Cahal Brendan Daly, 82 (Ireland)
Godfried Danneels, 67 (Belgium)
Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, 65 (Indonesia)
Salvatore De Giorgi, 69 (Italy)
Andrzej Maria Deskur, 76 (Poland)
Alexandre do Nascimento, 75 (Angola)
Alexandre José Maria dos Santos, 76 (Mozambique)
Roger Etchegaray, 77 (France)
Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi-Bamungwabi, 69 (Congo)
Pierre Eyt, 66 (France)
Vincenzo Fagiolo, 82 (Italy)
José Freire Falcăo, 74 (Brazil)
Angelo Felici, 80 (Italy)
Juan Francisco Fresno Larrain, 85 (Chile)
Carlo Furno, 78 (Italy)
Édouard Gagnon, 82 (Canada)
Bernardin Gantin, 78 (Benin)
Francis Eugene George, 63 (USA)
Michele Giordano, 69 (Italy)
Józef Glemp, 70 (Poland)
Marcelo González Martín, 82 (Spain)
Paul Gouyon, 89 (France)
Hans Hermann Gröer, 80 (Austria)
Henryk Roman Gulbinowicz, 71 (Poland)
James Aloysius Hickey, 79 (USA)
Antonio Innocenti, 84 (Italy)
Antonio María Javierre Ortas, 79 (Spain)
William Henry Keeler, 69 (USA)
Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, 78 (Korea)
Michael Michae Kitbunchu, 71 (Thailand)
Franz König, 94 (Austria)
Ján Chryzostom Korec, 76 (Slovakia)
Adam Kozlowiecki, 89 (Poland)
Franjo Kuharic, 81 (Croatia)
Pio Laghi, 78 (Italy)
Bernard Francis Law, 68 (USA)
José Alí Lebrún Moratinos, 81 (Venezuela)
Nicolás de Jesús López Rodriguez, 63 (Dominican Republic)
Alfonso López Trujillo, 64 (Colombia)
Aloísio Lorscheider, 75 (Brazil)
D. Simon Lourdusamy, 76 (India)
Myroslav Ivan Lubachivsky, 86 (Ukraine)
Jean-Marie Lustiger, 66 (France)
Franciszek Macharski, 73 (Poland)
Roger Michael Mahony, 64 (USA)
Adam Joseph Maida, 70 (USA)
Jean Margéot, 84 (Mauritius)
Eduardo Martínez Somalo, 73 (Spain)
Carlo Maria Martini, 73 (Italy)
Paul Augustin Mayer, 89 (Germany)
Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, 73 (Chile)
Joachim Meisner, 66 (Germany)
Dino Monduzzi, 78 (Italy)
Lucas Moreira Neves, 74 (Brazil)
Virgilio Noč, 78 (Italy)
Miguel Obando Bravo, 74 (Nicaragua)
Silvio Oddi, 89 (Italy)
Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, 63 (Cuba)
Maurice Michael Otunga, 77 (Kenya)
Pietro Palazzini, 88 (Italy)
Salvatore Pappalardo, 81 (Italy)
László Paskai, 73 (Hungary)
Polycarp Pengo, 55 (Tanzania)
Paul Joseph Pham Děnh Tung, 81 (Vietnam)
Simon Ignatius Pimenta, 80 (India)
Silvano Piovanelli, 76 (Italy)
Luigi Poggi, 82 (Italy)
Paul Poupard, 69 (France)
Raúl Francisco Primatesta, 81 (Argentina)
Vinco Puljic, 54 (Bosnia)
Joseph Ratzinger, 73 (Germany)
Armand Gaétan Razafindratandra, 74 (Madagascar)
Egano Righi-Lambertini, 94 (Italy)
Norberto Rivera Carrera, 58 (Mexico)
Opilio Rossi, 90 (Italy)
Antonio María Rouco Varela, 63 (Spain)
Camillo Ruini, 69 (Italy)
Aurelio Sabattini, 87 (Italy)
Giovanni Saldarini, 75 (Italy)
Eugęnio de Araújo Sales, 79 (Brazil)
José T. Sánchez, 80 (The (Philippines)
Juan Sandoval Íńiguez, 67 (Mexico)
Christoph Schönborn, 55 (Austria)
Jan Pieter Schotte, 72 (Belgium)
Henri Schwery, 68 (Switzerland)
Giuseppe Maria Sensi, 93 (Italy)
Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir, 80 (Lebanon)
Paul Shan Kui-hsi, 76 (Taiwan)
Peter Seiichi Shirayanagi, 72 (Japan)
Achille Silvestrini, 76 (Italy)
Adrianus Johannes Simonis, 68 (The (Netherlands)
Jaime Lachica Sin, 71 (The Philippines)
Angelo Sodano, 72 (Italy)
James Francis Stafford, 67 (USA)
Georg Maximilian Sterzinsky, 64 (Germany)
Alfons Maria Stickler, 89 (Austria)
Adolfo Antonio Suárez Rivera, 73 (Mexico)
Angel Suquía Goicoechea, 83 (Spain)
Kazimierz Swiatek, 85 (Belarus)
Edmund Casimir Szoka, 72 (USA)
Pio Taofinu'u, 76 (Samoa)
Dionigi Tettamanzi, 66 (Italy)
Hyacinthe Thiandoum, 79 (Senegal)
Alexandru Todea, 88 (Romania)
Jozef Tomko, 76 (Slovakia)
Ersilio Tonini, 86 (Italy)
Christian Wiyghan Tumi, 69 (Cameroon)
Jean-Claude Turcotte, 64 (Canada)
Paulos Tzadua, 78 (Ethiopia)
Corrado Ursi, 91 (Italy)
Louis-Albert Vachon, 88 (Canada)
Augusto Vargas Alzamora, 77 (Peru)
Ricardo J. Vidal, 69 (The Philippines)
Miloslav Vlk, 68 (Czech Republic)
Emmanuel Wamala, 73 (Uganda)
Friedrich Wetter, 72 (Germany)
Johannes Willebrands, 90 (The Netherlands)
Thomas Stafford Williams, 70 (New Zealand)
Thomas Joseph Winning, 75 (Great Britain)
John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung, 75 (Hong Kong)

I think the College of Cardinals has been around in one form or another since the Middle Ages. They once held a huge amount of power over the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church but as the process of choosing a pope became more refined, their influence has steadily declined.

Who are they?

Actually the College of Cardinals is broken down into three different orders. They are:

Cardinal Bishops - these guys (sorry ladies, the Roman Catholic Church is still a little behind the times when it comes to the subject of women) are the bishops of the suburban areas of Rome. These include the `burbs known as Ostia Palestrina, Porto and Santa Ruffino, Albano, Velletri-Segni, Frascati, Sabina-Poggio and Mireteto. This select group is specifically appointed by the Pope. The dean of the College of Cardinals also is elected from members of this group and is given the title See of Ostia along with his regular duties as bishop in one of the aforementioned suburban areas.

Cardinal Priests - I guess these guys are next in the pecking order. Their members include cardinals who are bishops but the diocese that they are responsible for lies outside of Rome.

Last but not least, you have your Cardinal Deacons. These esteemed members hold the title of bishop but are assigned to full time service in the Roman Curia. That is to say, they are not assigned to a diocese and spend their time in Rome advising the Pope. Not to worry though, after ten years of faithful service in that role, they can request a transfer to the order of Cardinal Priests. The oldest member of this group also has the honor of announcing a newly elected Pope to the general public.

What do they do?

Sure, the Pope is supposed to be infallible but a little advice now and then couldn't hurt could it? One of the main responsibilities of the College of Cardinals is to keep the pope up to date on worldly matters and offer up their advice accordingly.

Their real claim to fame though is that they are responsible for choosing a new pope amongst themselves when events warrant such an occasion. If you're interested and would like more information about how they accomplish this, please see the w/u How to become Pope.