Popes and the Papacy

Papal Name Statistics

I have been researching all aspects of papal names for the last 18 months.

I managed to find the meanings (and origins) of all of the birth (or prior) names, e.g., 'Anacletus' - blameless (in Greek), 'Lucius' - bringer of light (in Latin), 'John' - God is gracious (in Hebrew) etc.

There are 125 documented instances of popes assuming a new name upon being elected. I managed, though it was a struggle, to come up with rationales for all 125 of these name changes -- albeit with about 30% being logical, justifiable suppositions.

I also tried to determine whether there were undocumented name changes prior to that of John II in January 533. There appears to be a high probability that early Roman priests assumed Greek priestly names upon being ordained. So some of the names that we now think of as being birth names were probably priestly names.

One such priestly name was 'Xystus' -- which can denote 'tonsured,' a look supposedly popularized in Rome by St. Peter. This appears to have been the name of the 6th pope after St. Peter. But he was soon to be known as Sixtus -- which just happens to mean the 6th.

I documented everything that I learned during this 18 month papal name project -- which was essentially my latest hobby. I hope to be able to share this information with you in the coming months.

But to get us started, I, today, posted the core papal name statistics. Please click here to visit this "Papal Statistics" page on this BLOG/Web site.

The 265, 266, 264 or 263 Dilemma

One of the first challenges I ran into when I started writing about papal history was how to accurately (and hopefully, faithfully) address the question as to the number of legitimate popes we have had -- up to and including Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected in April 2005. It appeared that I could, in good conscience, choose any number between 263 and 266.

The Vatican has Pope Benedict XVI as the 265th pope -- but the Vatican list, alack, is not exactly chiseled on Carrara marble. A revision to the Vatican list of popes is one of the reasons that there is this discrepancy.

The original Stephen (II), died on March 26, 752, four days after being legitimately elected. For 400 years, up to 1961, he appeared on the Vatican list as a bona fide pope. But then his name was removed because he died before he had been consecrated as the Bishop of Rome. So references and lists prior to 1961 include this Stephen II. He also appears on some online papal lists -- in particular the one maintained by Wikipedia.

If Stephen (II) is omitted, Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th legitimate pope.

But then there is also the unprecedented three terms of Pope Benedict IX between 1032 and 1048. Some count him as one pope who held office three separate times. By that reckoning, Pope Benedict XVI is the 263rd pope -- if you also omit Stephen (II).

Please click here for a detailed discussion on this topic on the "Number of Popes" page on this Web site.
  

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