Out of 95 cardinal electors appointed during Pope Francis’s pontificate, the Holy Father chose 18 from European residential sees. The Pope has so far presided over eight consistories. Pope Benedict XVI, in five consistories, appointed 16 cardinal electors from European bishoprics or archbishoprics. Benedict XVI created 90 cardinals, 74 electors, and 16 non-electors. Finally, John Paul II chose 63 pastors from European dioceses or archdioceses – all under the age of 80 at the time of appointment (210 in total) – in 9 different consistories. 

Four of John Paul II’s choices came from Lyon, the primary See of France; 3 each from Marseille, Genoa, Turin, and Lviv; 2 each from Venice, Armagh, Zagreb, Berlin, Madrid, Florence, Budapest, and Vienna. John Paul II also appointed one cardinal from each of the following cities: Paris, Krakow, Milan, Brussels, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Munich and Freising, Utrecht, Bologna, Naples, Essen, Nitra, Sion, Prague, Glasgow, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Sarajevo, Palermo, Riga, Paderborn, Dublin, Vilnius, Toledo, Lisbon, Westminster, Seville, Mainz, Edinburgh, Fagaras and Alba Iulia. Also, the Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome was appointed during John Paul II’s pontificate. 

John Paul II almost always chose cardinals from Sees that had produced cardinals before. For example, in Milan, he appointed Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi as a new Archbishop. He had already received the purple as Archbishop of Genoa. On average, John Paul II created seven cardinal electors per consistory to lead European dioceses or archdioceses. 

Even Benedict XVI, during his consistories, looked to European residential sees but contained the average to 3.2 per consistory. Specifically, Pope Benedict XVI only assigned red birettas to Sees that were traditionally home to cardinals: Bordeaux, Toledo – primatial See of Spain -, Krakow, Bologna, Valencia, Armagh, Barcelona, Paris, Genoa, Palermo, Warsaw, Munich and Freising, Prague, Utrecht, Florence, and Berlin. 

The influence of European cardinals over the college changed dramatically with Pope Francis. The average number of cardinal electors leading European dioceses drops to 2.2 per consistory. But it is their provenance that, at least at first, is surprising. The Pope alternated between traditional Sees and Sees that either had never had a cardinal as a bishop or had only had one centuries before. They came from Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels, Barcelona, Valladolid, Bologna, Marseille, the Vicariate of Rome, and Westminster, as well as Perugia, Ancona, Agrigento, Stockholm, Fatima, L’Aquila, Luxembourg, Siena, Como. The cardinals that Pope Francis has appointed has made the college of Cardinals far more international.