age

[michael928]

can you be over the age of 80 and get to be the pope?

[lecheekyworm]

I think on the news it said that 80 was the cut off age so no.

[Sequin]

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

[bernardo]

Akshly, the rule about only under-80s voting was introduced by Pope Paul VI in 1977 or 1975 ish.

[JohnPPotts]

I believe JP II enacted (or at least enforced) a retirement age of 80 for Cardinals and since the Pope is almost certainly going to be chosen from the College of Cardinals, it would be very hard (if not actually impossible) for an octogenarian to become Pope.

[gazzawazza]

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... "