Since the foundation of the Christian religion nearly 2 000 years ago, about 264 popes have presided over the church’s fortunes, from Simon Peter of Galilee to the former Karol Wojtyla of Poland, better known as Pope John Paul II, who died on Saturday evening.
In fact, the list of popes contains only 262 names because one of them, Benedict IX, reigned three times between 1032 and 1048. He was first deposed in 1045, recovering the throne briefly before abdicating the same year, and returned again in 1047 before being finally removed from office a year later.
The early popes had little security of office. Seven popes prior to Benedict IX had been deposed. Five abdicated for a variety of reasons. No fewer than 21 died as martyrs, with a further nine as presumed martyrs.
Six were murdered, two died of wounds sustained in rioting, and one died when a ceiling fell in on him. Four died in exile and one in prison. Two died from culinary misadventure: Paul II in 1471 after eating two huge melons, Clement XIV in 1774 of indigestion.
A total of 85 popes were sanctified, including all but two of the first 50. Seven others were declared blessed. The shortest pontificate was that of Urban VII (1590) and lasted just 13 days. The longest was that of Simon Peter, estimated at 34 years.
Only one other pope, Pius IX (1846-1878), has ruled for more than 30 years, while 13 ruled for more than 20 years. The average length of a pontificate is eight years.
The longest interval during which the papacy remained vacant was three years, seven months and one day, between the death of Marcellinus in October 304 and the election of Marcellus I in May 308.
The tradition of adopting a new name on acceding to the papacy goes back to Gregory V in 996. Previously, only six popes had changed their name, usually because of the unsuitability of the names they were born with, and subsequently only two have failed to do so.
The most popular papal names are John (23 popes), Gregory (16), Benedict (15), Clement (14), Leon and Innocent (13) and Pius (12). The name Peter has been reserved for the first pope.
Of the 262 popes, 210 have been Italian, including 99 from Rome. Of the 52 others, 16 have been French, 12 from the ancient Greek world, nine from what is now the Middle East (six from Syria, three from Palestine), and five from Germany, three from Spain and as many from Africa and one each from England, Portugal, The Netherlands and, of course, Poland.
Prior to John Paul II, there had not been a non-Italian pope since the death of Adrian VI, of Utrecht, in 1523. The papacy has been a family affair for the counts of Tuscolo, who supplied three popes, the Medicis (three) and the Borgias (two).
The unique instance of two popes coming from the same family occurred in 757 when Stephen III was succeeded by his brother Paul I.
The papal system developed haphazardly over the centuries until 1870 when the first Vatican Council officially defined as a matter of faith the absolute primacy of the pope and his infallibility on ”matters of faith and morals”.
According to this definition, the pope exercises judicial, legislative and executive authority as the direct successor of St Peter, who is thought to have been the head of the apostles and the first bishop of Rome.
In fact, there is no historical evidence that Peter was the first leader of the church of Rome or that he was martyred there during a persecution of the Christians. However, the See of Rome was given priority among the early bishoprics because of its claim to be the burial place of both Peter and Paul and because of its status as the capital of the Roman Empire. — Sapa-AFP