Dean of the College of Cardinals
president of the College of Cardinals
The dean of the College of Cardinals (Latin: Decanus Collegii Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalium) presides over the College of Cardinals in the Catholic Church, serving as primus inter pares ('first among equals'). The position was established in the 12th century. He always holds the rank of a cardinal bishop and is assisted by a vice-dean. Both are elected by and from the cardinal bishops who are not Eastern Catholic patriarchs, with their election subject to papal confirmation. Except for presiding over the college, the dean and vice-dean have no power over the other cardinals.
For centuries, the cardinal bishop who had been a bishop of a suburbicarian see the longest was the dean. This custom became a requirement with the canon law of 1917. On 26 February 1965, Pope Paul VI empowered the cardinal bishops to elect the dean from among their number. Both the dean and subdean must reside in Rome.
Until December 2019, the dean held the position until death or resignation; there was no mandatory age of retirement.
The public source identifies “Dean of the College of Cardinals” as president of the College of Cardinals. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dean, College and Cardinals.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dean of the College of Cardinals” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.