<Tr> <Td> Kiev--Galicia </Td> <Td> Ukraine </Td> <Td> Ukrainian </Td> <Td> Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Trivandrum </Td> <Td> India </Td> <Td> Syro - Malankara </Td> <Td> Cardinal Baselios Cleemis </Td> </Tr> <P> Cardinals are princes of the Church appointed by the Pope . He generally chooses bishops who head departments of the Roman Curia or important episcopal sees throughout the world . As a whole, the cardinals compose a College of Cardinals which advises the Pope, and those cardinals under the age of 80 at the death or resignation of a Pope elect his successor . Their heraldic achievement is surmounted by the red galero and tassels as a form of martyred position in the Church . </P> <P> Not all cardinals are bishops . Domenico Bartolucci, Karl Josef Becker, Roberto Tucci and Albert Vanhoye are examples of 21st - century non-bishop cardinals . The 1917 Code of Canon Law introduced the requirement that a cardinal must be at least a priest . Previously, they need only be in minor orders and not even deacons . Teodolfo Mertel, who died in 1899, was the last non-priest cardinal . In 1962, Pope John XXIII made it a rule that a man who has been nominated a cardinal is required to be consecrated a bishop, if not one already, but some ask for and obtain dispensation from this requirement . It is rare that the Pope will appoint Cardinals who are priests only and not consecrated as a bishop . </P>

Who advises the pope in the church hierarchy