No Irish-based cardinal party to papal election since 1958

Should a papal election take place in the next three to four years, it will mean that no Irishbased cardinal has been party to the election of a Pope since Pope Pius XII died in 1958.

That year, the then Catholic primate, Cardinal D'Alton, took part in the conclave which elected Pope John XXIII. Cardinal Conway had yet to receive the red hat when Pope Paul VI was elected in 1963, and Cardinal O Fiach was in a similar position when Popes John Paul I and John Paul II were elected in 1978.

Last October, Cardinal Daly was 80, and as such will not be eligible to take part in future papal elections.

However Cardinal Michael Browne, an Irish Dominican based in the Vatican, did take part in the conclave which elected Pope Paul VI in 1963.

Since 1985 Pope John Paul II has called a consistory approximately every three years, though the last one was in June 1994.