Lay cardinal

File:Kardinal Theodulf Mertel.jpg

Teodolfo Mertel, the last man to have been created cardinal without first having been ordained a deacon. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1858, a few months after becoming a cardinal.

Template:Catholic Church hierarchy sidebar In the historical practice of the Catholic Church, a lay cardinal was a man whom the pope appointed to the College of Cardinals while still a layman. This appointment carried with it the obligation to be ordained to a clerical order, meaning that "lay cardinal" was not a permanent state, but a term in reference to a man who was appointed cardinal prior to taking on the clerical state corresponding to that appointment.

The current law of the Catholic Church is that a man must be first ordained at least a priest in order to be considered for appointment as a cardinal.

List of laymen who were created cardinals

Name	Year created cardinal	Highest clerical order received
Pope Paul III	1493	Pope
Pope Leo X	1489	Pope
Charles Borromeo	1560	Archbishop
Ferdinando I de' Medici	1562	Minor orders
Maurice of Savoy	1607	Minor orders
Francisco Gómez Rojas de Sandoval	1618	Priest
Ferdinand of Austria	1620	Minor orders
Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino	1641	Minor orders
Template:Ill	1801	Resigned before being ordained
Teodolfo Mertel	1858	Deacon

Discontinuation

In 1917, Pope Benedict XV promulgated the first edition of the Code of Canon Law, which included a provision that a man must be first ordained a priest prior to being considered for appointment as a cardinal.

According to The New York Times, Pope Paul VI considered making the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain a cardinal in 1965.

See also

• Crown cardinal
• Cardinal-Infante (disambiguation)
• Cardinal-nephew
• List of creations of cardinals