Sede vacante in the context of "Cardinal (Catholic Church)"

In the Catholic Church, a titular church (Italian: titolo cardinalizio) is a church in Rome that is assigned to a member of the clergy who is created a cardinal. These are Catholic churches in the city, within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rome, that serve as honorary designations symbolising the relationship of cardinals to the pope, the bishop of Rome. According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law, a cardinal may assist his titular church through counsel or through patronage, although "he has no power of governance over it, and he should not for any reason interfere in matters concerning the administration of its good, or its discipline, or the service of the church".

There are two ranks of titular churches: titles and deaconries. A title (Latin: titulus) is a titular church that is assigned to a cardinal priest (a member of the second order of the College of Cardinals), whereas a deaconry (Latin: diaconia) is normally assigned to a cardinal deacon (a member of the third order of the college). If a cardinal priest or a cardinal deacon is later appointed a cardinal bishop (a member of the first order of the college), he is typically transferred from his titular church to the vacant title of a suburbicarian diocese in the vicinity of Rome. Patriarchs of Eastern Catholic Churches who are created cardinal bishops are not assigned titles of suburbicarian dioceses.

An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic administration), or is a diocese, archdiocese, eparchy or similar permanent ordinariate (such as a territorial prelature or a territorial abbacy) that has no bishop or archbishop (an apostolic administrator sede vacante, as after an episcopal death, resignation or transfer to another territory) or, in very rare cases, has an incapacitated head (apostolic administrator sede plena). The title also applies to an outgoing incumbent while awaiting for the date of assuming his new position or date of effectivity of a retirement.

The papal conclave of 2025 was convened to elect a pope, the leader of the Catholic Church, to succeed Francis following his death on 21 April 2025. In accordance with the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed the vacancy of the Holy See, only cardinals who had not passed their 80th birthdays on the day on which the Holy See became vacant (in this case, those who were born on or after 21 April 1945) were eligible to participate in the conclave. Although not a formal requirement, the cardinal electors have almost always elected the pope from among their number. The election was carried out by secret ballot (Latin: per scrutinium).

Of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals at the time of Francis's death, 135 cardinal electors were eligible to participate in the subsequent conclave. Two cardinal electors did not attend, decreasing the number of participants to 133. The required two-thirds supermajority needed to elect a pope was 89 votes.

The College of Cardinals (Latin: Collegium Cardinalium), also called the Sacred College of Cardinals, is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church. As of 8 November 2025, there are 245 cardinals, of whom 126 are eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope. Appointed by the pope, cardinals serve for life, but become ineligible to participate in a papal conclave if they turn 80 before a papal vacancy occurs.

Since the emergence of the College of Cardinals in the Early Middle Ages, the size of the body has historically been limited by popes, ecumenical councils ratified by the pope, and the college itself. The total number of cardinals from 1099 to 1986 has been about 2,900, nearly half of whom were created after 1655. This number excludes possible undocumented 12th-century cardinals and pseudocardinals appointed during the Western Schism by pontiffs now considered to be antipopes, and subject to some other sources of uncertainty.