text: what happens to the other cardinals after pope the 16th appointed the 15 new ones ,? do the cardinals only have a term as long as the pope is alive ? do the old cardinals  retire or what happens to them ? is it true only the newly elected cardinals are responsible and allowed to vote for the next pope (#17) after #16 has died? benedict the xvi means he is the 16th pope to take the name benedict since the beginning of the church...it has nothing to do with the number of cardinals.  the college of cardinals is like the supreme court, appointed by the pope but serve for life.  cardinals serve for life, but can only vote for a new pope if they are younger than 80 years old.  so to answer your questions in order...  1. nothing 2.  no...they serve for life 3.  no...there are almost 200 of them. 4.  no, all cardinals under the age of 80 will be responsible for voting in the next pope.  there are 193 cardinals and 120 of them are under 80 right now.  the next pope won't necessarily be the 17th. the last one was the second (john paul ii).  if that pope chooses the name of benedict, (yes, they choose their own names) then he would be the 17th.  otherwise, he will either be john paul iii or john the 27th or peter ii, depending what he chooses.