The cardinal's aging out left the College of Cardinals with 121 clerics under the age of 80 and eligible to vote.

Of those 121 cardinals, 81 – 66.9% – were inducted into the college by Pope Francis.
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According to modifications to the norms governing the election of the bishop of Rome promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2013 and still in force, "a majority vote of two-thirds of the cardinal electors present is always necessary for the valid election of a Roman Pontiff."

With Cardinal Sepe's birthday, just over two-thirds of the currently eligible voters were made cardinals by Pope Francis.

Another seven cardinals – including three given their red hats by Pope Francis – will celebrate their 80th birthdays before the end of the year. They include Cardinal Juan Cipriani Thorne, former archbishop of Lima, Peru, who was made a cardinal by St. John Paul II; and Cardinals Giuseppe Versaldi, Angelo Comastri and Leonardo Sandri, all retired Vatican officials who were made cardinals by Pope Benedict.

The almost-80-year-olds inducted into the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis are: Cardinals Patrick D'Rozario, retired archbishop of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Andre Yeom Soo-jung, retired archbishop of Seoul; and Jean Zerbo, archbishop of Bamako, Mali.

According to rules set by St. Paul VI and never abrogated, but frequently set aside for months at a time over the past three decades, the College of Cardinals can have a maximum of 120 members eligible to vote in a conclave.