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age
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can you be over the age of 80 and get to be the pope?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.That is the cut off age to vote in the conclave, but they are theoretically able to vote for anybody, cardinal or not, so the answer must be yes - you can be elected Pope aged over 80, but it is extremely unlikely, as in recent centuries it has always been one of the members of the conclave.
Pope John-Paul II changed the rules on the age of cardinals allowed to vote after he was elected
Pope John-Paul II changed the rules on the age of cardinals allowed to vote after he was elected
I may be being a bit cynical here, but am I the only person who thinks they've chosen an old pope on purpose?
They've had great publicity over the last few weeks, (will he, won't he, oops, he finally has...) then the funeral and all the associated palaver coupled with the nine days of mourning, then the choice of the new pope, then the reporting of the special mass for the new pope... it's just been going on for ages. Now, I reckon they've been sat round in the Vatican thinking, "Wow, this is the best publicity we've had for donkeys' years, let's choose a dead cert and do it all again in a couple of years... "