01 August 2023

Cardinal Njue as Cardinal-Elector (updated!)

With the recent release of  the Annuario Pontificio 2024 the whole situation has changed. Now, John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya, and Cardinal-Priest of Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo is shown with a birthdate of 1 Jan 1946 (see AP2024 p78). 

This resolves the previous issue completely.

Below is the original post for historical reasons.



In a previous post, we had discussed when a Cardinal loses the right to vote in a Conclave. In brief, it depends on when a Cardinal reaches the age of 80.

We have an unusual situation with John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya, and Cardinal-Priest of Preziosissimo Sangue di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo. In his case, we only know the year in which he was born (1944) - but not the month nor day.

So when does he reach the age of 80?

In my opinion, in fairness to Cardinal Njue, one must treat him as if he was born on the last day of the year 1944 - thus losing his vote on 1 Jan 2025 (see the above linked post for details).

I note that on the Vatican website, there is a List of Cardinals in order of Age and on that list his birth date is listed as "31-12-1944" but the bios to which it links only gives the year of birth. This would seem to suggest they agree with my view.

God willing, the need for a Conclave in 2024 will not occur and complete clarification of the issue will not be neccessary.

1 comment:

Antonio said...

Dont worry. I suppose that the Lord knows the day and the month of his birth... And I am shure that the Lord will decide when will happen the next election of a new pope. In France, when the day and the month of birth are unknown, the administration chooses the 1st of january. But, in fact, in thoses cases, the year of birth is not absolutely shure. The idea of "a precise date of birth" is a progressive creation of the roman catholic church with the developpement of registers of baptism in the parishes. In other religions, the idea of individual baptism is very rare.