Walter Kasper

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State of the College of Cardinals upon the election of Pope Francis as the new Supreme Pontiff

On the beginning of the 2013 Papal Conclave, there are 207 Cardinals in total, out of which 117 are Cardinal-electors (including Cardinal Walter Kasper who turned 80 during the Sede Vacante) and 90 Cardinal non-electors (over 80)

With the election of the Metropolitan Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio to the position of the Bishop of Rome, as Pope Francis, the 266th Pope and Bishop of Rome, and with Cardinal Walter Kasper, being already over 80, lost his voting rights in any future Conclave :

The current College of Cardinals as of Thursday, 14 March 2013 consists of 206 Cardinals, out of which 115 are Cardinal-electors, and 91 are Cardinal non-electors.

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Cardinal Walter Kasper (Germany) turns 80 today (5 March 2013) but will still be eligible to vote in the Conclave

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Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany, the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity turns 80 today, Tuesday, 5 March 2013. As such, normally he would have lost his voting rights in a Conclave as a Cardinal-elector.

http://www.gcatholic.org/hierarchy/data/cardJP2-8.htm#76

However, as the rights of a Cardinal-elector is such that as long as he has not yet turned 80 at the moment when the Apostolic See (the Papacy) becomes vacant (Thursday, 28 February 2013), the Cardinal will still be an elector in the conclave that elects the next Pope. Therefore, Walter Kasper will still be an elector in the upcoming conclave, and thus, also the oldest of the Cardinal-electors to enter the Sistine Chapel in a week’s time.

Ad multos annos, Your Eminence! and we will always pray for you and for your brother Cardinals, especially the electors of our next Pope!