According to data from the Holy See, Pope Francis' successor will also be chosen with the help of 16 African electors, out of a total of 28 African cardinals who make up the college of cardinals.
Brazil is the country that, in the Portuguese-speaking world, contributes the most to the choice: João Braz de Avis, Odilo Pedro Scherer, Orani João Tempesta, Leonardo Ulrich, Sérgio da Rocha, Jaime Spengler and Paulo Ceza Costa are the seven cardinals who will vote in the next Conclave, which will also be attended by the Timorese Virgílio do Carmo da Silva and the Cape Verdean Arlindo Gomes Furtado, both of whom have the right to vote, unlike the Mozambican cardinal Júlio Duarte Langa, who is not an elector.
The Portuguese electors are the cardinals António Marto, Manuel Clemente, José Tolentino de Mendonça and Américo Alves.
From Africa, the Cape Verdean cardinal is the only representative of the Portuguese-speaking world, among the 16 African electors who will contribute to the choice of Pope Francis' successor.
Only cardinals who have not already reached the age of 80 on the first day of the vacancy will enter the Conclave to elect the Pope, so of the 252 members of the College of Cardinals, only 135 will be called to vote, since 117 are over 80 years old.
Pope Francis died on Monday at the age of 88, victim of a stroke, after 12 years of pontificate.
Born in Buenos Aires (Argentina), on December 17, 1936, Francis was the first Jesuit and the first Latin American to reach the leadership of the Catholic Church.
His last public appearance was on Easter Sunday, at the Vatican, the day before he died.
Pope Francis was hospitalized for 38 days due to bilateral pneumonia, and was discharged on March 23.
