Universi Dominici gregis in the context of "Cardinal electors in the 2025 conclave"

On 2 April 2005, at 21:37 CEST (UTC+2), Pope John Paul II died at the age of 84 in his private apartment at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. His funeral, held on 8 April, was one of the largest gatherings of Christianity's faithful in history, with approximately four million mourners converging on Rome. The ceremonies followed the revised papal funerary rites that John Paul II himself had established in 1996 through the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici gregis, which governed both the selection of his successor and the rituals surrounding his death and burial.

The funeral rites included a lying in state at St. Peter's Basilica, a Mass of Repose, and a Requiem Mass celebrated by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then Dean of the College of Cardinals. John Paul II's burial was conducted according to his wishes for simplicity, and he was interred beneath St. Peter's Basilica. Dignitaries and religious leaders were present from around the world, including Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I—the first such attendance since the East–West Schism. Many countries declared periods of national mourning, and prayers were offered worldwide for the late pope. The funeral was followed by the Novendiales, nine days of official mourning and liturgical observances.

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, a number that has often been exceeded. Cardinals may be created in pectore (lit. 'in the breast'), 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.