section_path: Papacy (2013–2025)/Consistories
section_name: Consistories
paragraph_text: Consistories
  
  Francis created 163 cardinals from 76 countries across ten consistories. He held his first consistory in February 2014, a rare occasion in which he publicly appeared with his predecessor, Benedict XVI. After the 2024 consistory, 110 cardinals appointed by Francis were under the age of 80 and thus eligible to vote at a papal conclave. There were, at that point, 110 cardinal-electors created by Francis, 24 created by Benedict XVI, and six created by John Paul II.
  
  Francis's appointments made the College of Cardinals less European-dominated. He appointed many cardinals from developing countries, including some of the world's poorest, and from countries on the peripheries of the church.
  
  Compared to his predecessors, Francis made fewer appointments of Roman Curia officials to the cardinalate. This was part of a general trend under Francis to a more decentralized church. Compared to his predecessor Benedict, who preferred to appoint academically inclined churchmen as cardinal, Francis favored cardinals with a more pastoral focus, especially those known for a focus on the poor and marginalized. Francis also dropped the traditional custom of always appointing the archbishops of certain historically prominent sees (such as the Patriarch of Venice and Archbishop of Milan) as cardinals.