# What happens if the cardinals elect...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 3, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484 "2005-04-03T03:37:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484/21 "2005-04-03T19:42:46Z")

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> [@appleciders](#):
>
> Granted Dan Brown isn’t exactly an authority on the matter, I do remember something in Angels and Demons about the pope needing to be a cardinal between sixty and eighty years of age.

Someone should have told them before they elected John Paul II, aged 58!

The last non-cardinal elected Pope was Urban VI, in 1378.

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**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484/22 "2005-04-03T21:13:47Z")

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Cecil’s take on the subject: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpope.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpope.html)

Or maybe Dan Brown should research more carefully.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484/23 "2005-04-12T16:29:44Z")

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> [@appleciders](#):
>
> Cecil’s take on the subject: [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpope.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpope.html)
> 
> Or maybe Dan Brown should research more carefully.

Cecil didn’t write that, SDSTAFF Ian did.

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**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484/24 "2005-04-12T18:01:21Z")

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Dan Brown didn’t say that, to my recollection…in fact, the major plot point is that:

The Carmelengo, who is just a priest, is eventually elected by the college of cardinals to be the new Pope.

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**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-if-the-cardinals-elect/297484/25 "2005-04-12T18:08:19Z")

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> [@Duckster](#):
>
> If nominated, I will not accept.
> 
> You’re all quite safe now.
> 
> 😃

That’s reason enough to get married, so you disqualify yourself from having to move to Rome and be papal.

A few years ago, I read a novel about a widowed, American with kids who by some plot fluke was elected pope. Anyone remember that? It seemd like it was pretty historaically dead on to me. 😉

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