Philadelphia won’t have a cardinal elector in the conclave deciding the next pope. Here’s why.

With Pope Francis laid to rest, the Catholic Church’s cardinals will meet Wednesday in Vatican City to decide the next pontiff through a long-standing tradition known as the papal conclave. But for the first time in nearly half a century, Philadelphia will not have a cardinal casting a vote to decide the future bishop of Rome.

Following custom that dates back to the 13th century, the papal conclave will see cardinals from around the world travel to Rome to cast their votes for Francis’ successor — who will be the Catholic Church’s first new leader in more than a decade. The church’s College of Cardinals currently has 252 members, but only slightly more than half of them — 135 — are eligible to vote in this conclave.

Eligibility for voting cardinals — or cardinal electors, as they are known — is based on age. Cardinals must be younger than 80 to participate in a conclave, which is a relatively new rule in the Catholic Church, dating to the early 1970s.

A vast majority of cardinal electors in this conclave were appointed by Pope Francis, and come from roughly 70 countries around the world, according to data from the Vatican. Only 10 cardinal electors come from the United States.

Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali, the former archbishop of Philadelphia, however, is not included in that group. Here is what you need to know:

At 90, Rigali is well outside of the age cutoff for cardinal electors. He turned 80 in 2015, about two years after Pope Francis was elected to lead the Catholic Church.

Rigali, however, did participate in the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, as well as the 2005 conclave that resulted in Pope Benedict XVI’s eight-year run as pontiff.

Pope John Paul II made Rigali a cardinal in 2003, the same year he began serving as archbishop of Philadelphia. Rigali remained in that position until 2011, when he retired amid the fallout of a second grand jury report on clergy sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Rigali’s retirement was expected, as he submitted his resignation in 2010 when he turned 75, as is typical. Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Charles Chaput as Rigali’s successor, and Chaput held that position until his own retirement in 2020.

Neither Chaput nor his successor, Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez, has been elevated to cardinal.

The age cutoff for cardinal electors took effect in 1971, and was decreed by Pope Paul VI. In December 1970, the pontiff declared that cardinals over the age of 80 “lose the right to elect the Pope and consequently also that of entering the conclave,” according to a letter announcing the rule.

Prior orders from the Vatican addressed other age limits, including the requirement for leaders to tender their resignation at age 75. Pope Paul VI’s 1971 decree extended similar rules to the church’s cardinals, noting that “the good of the Church demands that the increasing burden of age should be taken into consideration also for the illustrious office of the cardinalate.”

If a cardinal’s 80th birthday happens during a conclave, the letter added, they don’t have to leave in the middle of voting. Per the decree, they can continue to “enjoy the right of electing the pope on that occasion.”

The rule, according to National Catholic Reporter, has to do with easing travel burdens for older cardinals, as they must travel to Rome to participate in person.

The city has had five cardinals, starting with Archbishop Dennis Joseph Dougherty, whom Pope Benedict XV made a cardinal in 1921. Longtime Philly residents, even if they’re not Catholic, may recognize the name from Cardinal Dougherty High School, a former Archdiocese of Philadelphia school that closed in 2010.

Since Dougherty’s death in 1951, other pontiffs have appointed four more Philadelphia cardinals:

While five cardinals in more than a century may appear to be low for a highly Catholic region like Philadelphia, that’s not exactly the case. In fact, Philly has the third most cardinals of any U.S. archdiocese, behind only New York and Chicago.

As a result, Philly has historically been known as something of a feeder city for bishops being elevated to cardinals — though Pope Francis notably avoided choosing new cardinals from traditional cities during his time as pontiff.

Over the last century, we have missed a few.

Since Philly’s first cardinal in 1921, there have been nine papal conclaves — including the one starting Wednesday. Philadelphia cardinals participated in five of them, according to data from Catholic-Hierarchy.org, an unofficial online Catholic database.

Rigali and Krol each voted in two conclaves, while O’Hara and Bevilacqua did not vote in any. Dougherty, meanwhile, participated in one conclave in 1939, though he was eligible to vote in two.

Dougherty missed the 1922 papal conclave, in which Pope Pius XI was elected pontiff, after he was unable to arrive in Rome in time to take part. In two other conclaves — 1958 and 1963 — Philadelphia did not have a living cardinal to attend. And now, Rigali becomes the latest Philly cardinal to miss out, this time due to the Vatican’s age cutoff.