List of popes

This chronological list of popes of the Catholic Church corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" (The Roman Supreme Pontiffs), excluding those that are explicitly indicated as antipopes. Published every year by the Roman Curia, the Annuario Pontificio no longer identifies popes by regnal number, stating that it is impossible to decide which pope represented the legitimate succession at various times. The 2001 edition of the Annuario Pontificio introduced "almost 200 corrections to its existing biographies of the popes, from St Peter to John Paul II". The corrections concerned dates, especially in the first two centuries, birthplaces and the family name of one pope.

The term pope (Latin: papa, lit. 'father') is used in several churches to denote their high spiritual leaders (for example Coptic pope). This title in English usage usually refers to the head of the Catholic Church. The Catholic pope uses various titles by tradition, including Summus Pontifex, Pontifex Maximus, and Servus servorum Dei. Each title has been added by unique historical events and unlike other papal prerogatives, is not incapable of modification.

Hermannus Contractus may have been the first historian to number the popes continuously. His list ends in 1049 with Leo IX as number 154. Several changes were made to the list during the 20th century. Christopher was considered a legitimate pope for a long time but was removed due to how he obtained the papacy. Pope-elect Stephen was listed as Stephen II until the 1961 edition, when his name was removed. The decisions of the Council of Pisa (1409) were reversed in 1963 in a reinterpretation of the Western Schism, extending Gregory XII's pontificate to 1415 and classifying rival claimants Alexander V and John XXIII as antipopes.

A significant number of these popes have been recognized as saints, including 48 out of the first 50 consecutive popes, and others are in the sainthood process. Of the first 31 popes, 28 died as martyrs.

Chronological list of popes

1st millennium

1st century

2nd century

3rd century

4th century

5th century

6th century

7th century

8th century

9th century

10th century

2nd millennium

11th century

12th century

13th century

14th century

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century

3rd millennium

21st century

Religious orders

51 popes and 6 antipopes (in italics) have been members of religious orders, including 12 members of third orders. They are listed by order as follows:

Numbering of popes

Regnal numbers follow the usual convention for European monarchs. The first pope who chooses a unique name is not usually identified by an ordinal, John Paul I being the exception. Antipopes are treated as pretenders, and their numbers are reused by those considered to be legitimate popes. However, there are anomalies in the numbering of the popes. Several numbers were mistakenly increased in the Middle Ages because the records were misunderstood. Several antipopes were also kept in the sequence, either by mistake or because they were previously considered to be true popes.

• Alexander: Antipope Alexander V (1409–1410) was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century, when the Pisan popes were reclassified as antipopes. There had already been three more Alexanders by then, so there is now a gap in the numbering sequence.
• Donus: The name has only been used by one pope. The apocryphal Pope Donus II resulted from confusion between the Latin word dominus (lord) and the name Donus.
• Felix: Antipope Felix II (356–357) was kept in the numbering sequence.
• John: The numbering of the Popes John is particularly confused. In the modern sequence, they are identified by the numbers they used during their reigns.
  • Antipope John XVI (997–998) was kept in the numbering sequence.
  • Pope John XXI (1276–1277) chose to skip the number XX, believing that there had been another Pope John between XIV and XV. In reality, John XIV had been counted twice.
  • By the 16th century, the numbering error had been conflated with legends about a female Pope Joan, whom some authors called John VIII. She was never listed in the Annuario Pontificio.
  • Antipope John XXIII (1410–1415) was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century. After the Pisan popes were classified as antipopes, Pope John XXIII (1958–1963) chose to reuse the number, citing "twenty-two [sic] Johns of indisputable legitimacy."
• Martin: Pope Martin I (649–655) is followed by Martin IV (1281–1285). Due to the similarity between the Latin names Marinus and Martinus, Marinus I and Marinus II were mistakenly considered to be Martin II and III.
• Stephen: Pope-elect Stephen (752) died before being consecrated. He was previously known as Stephen II, but the Vatican removed him from the official list of popes in 1961. The remaining Stephens are now numbered Pope Stephen II (752–757) to Pope Stephen IX (1057–1058).

See also

Lists

Notes

References

Sources

External links

• Catholic Online: The List of Popes
• Popes & Anti-Popes (2019 archived copy)