Number of Popes

THE 265, 266, 264 or 263 DILEMMA
by Anura Guruge

The current Vatican list of legitimate popes has Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005, as the 265th pope -- with St. Peter, the Apostle, having been the first. But respected authors and widely referenced lists use other enumerations. Richard P. McBrien, the author of 'Catholicism', in his book 'Lives of the Popes,'  which assigns sequence numbers to popes, has Pope Benedict XVI as the 263rd bona fide pope. Wikipedia, the increasingly popular, Web-based free encyclopedia, maintains an illustrated 'List of Popes' -- albeit without any sequence numbers. However, if you count the popes included in this list Pope Benedict XVI comes in at number 266. You could also find other online lists where the papal count varies between 263 and 266.

There is nothing, even remotely, Machiavelian about this discrepancy. Nobody is trying to be controversial or cute. Nor has it got anything to do with antipopes.

The dilemma here is due to how one treats Pope Benedict IX and the original, Stephen II who was elected on March 23rd, 752. Benedict IX served three separate terms as pope between 21 October 1032 and 16 July 1048. Disgruntled Romans forced him out of Rome in September 1044 -- just short of his twelve year anniversary as pope. In January 1045, the Bishop of Sabina (a Roman suburb), was installed as Pope Silvester III -- though Benedict had not been deposed. Forty nine days later, Benedict, with help from supporters from Trastevere (South of Rome on the West bank of the river Tiber), managed to wrest the papacy back from Silvester. Silvester III, however, is not deemed an antipope by the Vatican.

Benedict IX's second term, thus, started as of 10 March 1045. It was to be brief. He abdicated 52 days later. He handed the papacy over to his godfather, John Gratian, an elderly archpriest at Rome's San Giovanni a Porta Latina, in exchange for a large sum of money -- that is reputed to have involved around 1,450 pounds of gold (about $19M in today's gold prices). John Gratin, assumed the name Gregory VI, supposedly at the behest of those present when he took office -- in the hope that he would emulate Gregory I 'the Great.' That was not to be. He was deposed 20 months later, along with Benedict IX and Silvester III.

Suidger, the Bishop of Bamberg (Bavaria, Germany), was then elected pope in December 1046, at the bidding of King Henry III of Germany. He assumed the name Clement II -- in honor of the third pope after St. Peter, St. Clement of Rome. He was the second pope to have been born in Germany. Though the Bishop of Rome, as the pope, he never relinquished his Bamberg bishopric.  He died on October 9, 1047, nine months and nineteen days after his election. Tests conducted after an exhumation of his body in 1942 showed that lead poisoning was the most likely cause of death. But it might have been accidental, since lead acetate was used as a sweetener  and a curative in his time.

A month after Clement II's death, Benedict IX was again installed as pope -- with simony, supposedly, a catalyst. This time around he held office for eight months and eleven days before being ousted, yet again.

All three of Benedict IX's terms are considered valid. The issue is whether you count him as one pope or treat him as three separate popes. It is these three terms of Benedict IX that cause the widest range of fluctuations when it comes to the papal count.

Stephen, an elderly Roman priest, was elected pope, without any controversy, in March 752 -- about a week or so after the death of Pope Zacharias. He, however, was to die of a stroke four days later, before he was consecrated Bishop of Rome. The canon laws of that era required consecration in order to be pope. But this prerequisite changed over the next eight centuries. A person, legitimately elected, who accepts his election, becomes pope -- prior to being consecrated.

Consequently, for 400 years, from the 16th century to 1961, Stephen (II) was accepted as a legitimate pope by the Vatican. But his name was then expunged because he had not been consecrated. This means that lists and references prior to 1961 include this Stephen, as Stephen II. He is not an antipope. His election was valid and uncontested.

Thus, the differences in the numbers used by different people can be explained as follows:

266 = includes the original Stephen II and treats Benedict IX's three terms as three separate popes.

265 = omits Stephen II but  treats Benedict IX's three terms as three separate popes.

264 = includes the original Stephen II but just counts Benedict IX as one pope.

263 = omits Stephen II and counts Benedict IX but once.

After much deliberation, I have opted to go with the 266 count, particularly since Stephen II still appears on various lists.