Remembering the cardinals and bishops who died in the past year, Pope Francis prayed that after their loving service to the Catholic Church "they may exult in eternal communion with the saints."

Popes have made a habit of exceeding the statutory limit on the number of cardinals under the age of 80, but Pope Francis is planning to set a record.

Toronto Archbishop Francis Leo is among 21 new Cardinals elevated to the College of Cardinals. 

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has expanded the ranks of the top members of the College of Cardinals, naming as "cardinal bishops" Cardinal Beniamino Stella, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has approved the election of Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as dean of the College of Cardinals and of Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri as the subdean.

VATICAN CITY -- After accepting the resignation of 92-year-old Cardinal Angelo Sodano as dean of the College of Cardinals, Pope Francis changed the norms of the office so that the dean would be elected to a five-year term renewable only once.

VATICAN – Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, retired archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, died March 14 at the age of 85.

VATICAN – Pope Francis attended the funeral Mass and presided over the final commendation of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the French cardinal who led the Vatican's outreach to other religions and who had announced to the world his election as pope five years ago.

VATICAN – Pope Francis appointed Bishop Nunzio Galantino, 69, as president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, which handles the Vatican's investment portfolio and real estate holdings and serves as the Vatican employment office and procurement agency.

VATICAN – Cardinal-designate Giovanni Angelo Becciu is one of the very few new cardinals not completely surprised in late May when Pope Francis announced the names of the 14 churchmen he intended to induct into the College of Cardinals.

Roman Catholics are used to belonging to a global church, one that transcends borders, encompasses cultures and finds expression in all the languages of the world. 

VATICAN – Pope Francis announced he would make 14 new cardinals June 29, giving the red cardinal's hat to the papal almoner, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church and the archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan, among others.

VATICAN – Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, a longtime Vatican official, died early May 18 in Rome at the age of 88.

VATICAN CITY – The Catholic Church's five new cardinals received a warm reception from family, friends and the general public June 28 after Pope Francis inducted them into the College of Cardinals.

It’s common for popes to search far and wide for their cardinals, but none has searched farther and wider than Pope Francis.