Editing Pope Paul VI (section)

====Age limits and restrictions====
On 6 August 1966, Paul VI asked all bishops to submit their resignations to the pontiff by their 75th birthday. They were not required to do so but "earnestly requested of their own free will to tender their resignation from office".<ref>{{cite web| last=Montini| first=Giovanni Battista| author-link=Giovanni Montini| url=https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19660806_ecclesiae-sanctae_en.html| publisher=Holy See| title=Apostolic Letter: Ecclesiae Sanctae| date=15 June 1966| access-date=9 January 2017| archive-date=10 December 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210195005/http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19660806_ecclesiae-sanctae_en.html| url-status=live}}</ref> He extended this request to all cardinals in ''[[Ingravescentem aetatem]]'' on 21 November 1970, with the further provision that cardinals would relinquish their offices in the [[Roman Curia]] upon reaching their 80th birthday.<ref name=IA>{{cite web | last=Montini | first=Giovanni Battista | author-link=Giovanni Montini | url=https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19701120_ingravescentem.html | publisher=Holy See | title=Apostolic Letter: Ingravescentem aetatem | date=21 November 1970 | access-date=9 January 2017 | language=it | archive-date=5 December 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191205233030/http://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/it/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19701120_ingravescentem.html | url-status=live }}</ref> These retirement rules enabled the Pope to fill several positions with younger prelates and reduce the Italian domination of the Roman Curia.{{Sfn|Franzen|1988|p=425}} His 1970 measures also revolutionised papal elections by restricting the right to vote in [[papal conclave]]s to cardinals who had not yet reached their 80th birthday,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hofmann|first1=Paul|title=Voting for Popes Is Barred to Cardinals Over 80|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/24/archives/voting-for-popes-is-barred-to-cardinals-over-80-prelates-over-80.html|access-date=10 January 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=24 November 1970|archive-date=26 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826090048/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/24/archives/voting-for-popes-is-barred-to-cardinals-over-80-prelates-over-80.html|url-status=live}}</ref> a class known since then as "cardinal electors". This reduced the power of the Italians and the Curia in the next conclave. Some senior cardinals objected to losing their voting privilege without effect.<ref>{{cite news | work = New York Times | access-date = 9 January 2017 | date = 27 November 1970 | first = Alfred Jr. | last = Friendly | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/27/archives/ottaviani-deplores-papal-action-barring-vote-of-aged-cardinals.html | title = Ottaviani Deplores Papal Action Barring Vote of Aged Cardinals | archive-date = 26 August 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180826101008/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/27/archives/ottaviani-deplores-papal-action-barring-vote-of-aged-cardinals.html | url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | agency = [[UPI|UP]] | access-date = 9 January 2017 | language = es | title = Crítica de dos Cardenales contra el Papa Paulo VI | date = 26 November 1970 | url = http://www.geocities.ws/verdadunica/pablo_6/ochenta.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170110090747/http://www.geocities.ws/verdadunica/pablo_6/ochenta.html | archive-date = 10 January 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
Paul VI's measures also limited the number of cardinal electors to a maximum of 120, a rule disregarded on several occasions by each of his successors.<!-- can add instances of exceeding this limit by JPII, Benedict, and Francis --> Previously, Paul VI himself had been the first pope to increase the number above 120 (from [[Cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave|82]] in 1963 to 134 [[Cardinals created by Paul VI#28 April 1969|in April 1969]]; but he reduced the number of cardinal electors below 120 in 1971 by simultaneously introducing the voting age limit).

Some prelates questioned whether he should not apply these retirement rules to himself.<ref>{{cite news | work = Wall Street Journal | access-date = 10 January 2017 | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB954200969808811516 | title = John Paul's Frailty Sparks Debate on Papal Retirement | date = 28 March 2000 | first = Lisa | last = Miller | archive-date = 10 January 2017 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170110162330/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB954200969808811516 | url-status = live }}</ref> When Pope Paul was asked towards the end of his papacy whether he would retire at age 80, he replied "Kings can abdicate, Popes cannot."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://lmtribune.com/flashback/pope-paul-vi-dies/article_3d7a3b76-36f8-5040-8dc5-a8641baa920e.html|title=Pope Paul VI dies|date=7 August 1978|work=Lewiston Tribune|access-date=5 November 2018|archive-date=22 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522214347/https://lmtribune.com/flashback/pope-paul-vi-dies/article_3d7a3b76-36f8-5040-8dc5-a8641baa920e.html|url-status=live}}</ref>