Pakistan’s tiny Catholic minority will have to wait a few more years, or even a decade, before they are represented again at the historic, periodic conclaves in Rome that elected Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope on Wednesday.

That opportunity can only come when the Vatican elevates an archbishop from Pakistan to the status of a cardinal. At the time of the papal election, however, that cardinal must not be over the age of 80 or else he can’t be an elector.Some 48 countries have church prelates at the 2013 conclave. Despite Pakistan’s absence, South Asia has six cardinal-electors this time around, five of them from India alone and one from Sri Lanka.

This is the first time that India or, for that matter, any Church in Asia has had quite so many cardinal electors. Church leaders in India insist their presence in the conclave is justified as their country has the fourth largest conference of Catholic bishops in the world. Only Italy, the United States and Brazil have a bigger conference of bishops. Even then Brazil, like Spain, has five cardinal electors – the same as India.
Only Germany (6), the United States (11) and Italy (28) have more voting-age cardinals than India.

Since 1947, a Pakistani delegate has twice sat in on the conclave sessions. The country was last represented at the cardinals’ conclave in October 1978 by its first and only cardinal, Joseph Cordeiro. Earning his red hat five years earlier at the 1973 consistory, Cardinal Cordeiro was already recognised as an important figure of the Asian church. By that time he had already been an archbishop for a decade and a half.

Cardinal Cordeiro’s experience as a member of several Vatican congregations, including the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and the Papal Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue, turned him into a close Vatican collaborator. So it wasn’t surprising that Cardinal Cordeiro was tipped among those considered papabile (or possible pope) in 1978. His charismatic, fellow consistory member Karol Józef WojtyÅ‚a of Poland, was eventually named pope. WojtyÅ‚a took the title of John Paul II.

Cardinal Cordeiro also attended the August 1978 conclave which elected Italian-born Albino Luciani as pope. Taking on the title of John Paul I, he remained in office for a little over a month.Cardinal Cordeiro also played a key role in the landmark Second Vatican Council meetings in Rome between 1962 and 1965. The meetings set the stage for the renewal of the church.Incidentally, four of the prelates who attended the Second Vatican Council, including Cardinal Ratzinger, went on to become the pontiff.