List of popes

List of popes

Plaque commemorating the popes buried in St. Peter's Basilica (their names in Latin and the year of their burial), 2024

This chronological list of the 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 is usually used in English to refer 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 century

The chronology of the early popes is heavily disputed. The first ancient lists of popes were not written until the late 2nd century, after the monarchical episcopate had already developed in Rome. These first lists combined contradictory traditions, and even the succession of the first popes is disputed. The first certain dates are AD 222 and 235, the elections of Urban I and Anterus. The years given for the first 30 popes follow the work of Richard Adelbert Lipsius, which often show a 3-year difference with the traditional dates given by Eusebius of Caesarea. These are also the dates used by the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Religious orders

List of popes

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

Type	#	Family	#	Order	#	Popes
Canons Regular	6	Augustinian Canons (C.R.S.A.)	5	Canons of the Lateran (C.R.L.)	2	Honorius II, Innocent II
Canons of San Frediano	1	Lucius II
Canons of Saint-Ruf	1	Adrian IV
Canons of San Giorgio in Alga	1	Eugene IV
Premonstratensians (O.Praem.)	1	Gregory VIII
Monastic Orders	25	Benedictine Orders	23	Benedictines (O.S.B.)	22	Gregory I, Boniface IV, Adeodatus II, Leo IV, John IX, Leo VII, John XVI, Sylvester II, Sergius IV, Stephen IX, Gregory VII, Victor III, Urban II, Paschal II, Adalbert, Gelasius II, Anacletus II, Callixtus III, Celestine V, Clement VI, Urban V, Pius VII
Benedictine Camaldolese (O.S.B.Cam.)	1	Gregory XVI
Cistercians (O.Cist.)	2	Eugene III, Benedict XII
Mendicant Orders	24	Augustinians (O.S.A.)	1	Leo XIV
Dominican Orders	5	Dominicans (O.P.)	4	Innocent V, Benedict XI, Pius V, Benedict XIII
Dominican Tertiary (T.O.P.)	1	Benedict XV
Franciscan Orders	18	Friars Minor (O.F.M.)	5	Nicholas IV, Nicholas V, Alexander V, Sixtus IV, Julius II
Conventual Franciscans (O.F.M.Conv.)	2	Sixtus V, Clement XIV
Secular Franciscans (O.F.S.)	11	Gregory IX, Gregory X, Martin V, Innocent XII, Clement XII, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXIII
Clerics Regular	2	Jesuits (S.J.)	1	Francis
Theatines (C.R.)	1	Paul IV
Total	57	N/A	57	N/A

Numbering of popes

List of popes

Regnal numbers follow the usual convention for European monarchs. 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. (As a note, the first pope who chooses a unique name is not identified by an ordinal, only assuming a number after a second Pope takes that same name: like how Francis thus far is only referred to as "Francis", but when there is a second one, they will be (respectively) "Francis I" and "Francis II". John Paul I is conspicuous as the only exception: having personally chosen to be called "John Paul the First" from the very beginning of his pontificate; which is merely a footnote given his short reign and the fact that he was followed immediately by John Paul II.)

• 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. • Benedict: Antipope Benedict X (1058–1059) was kept in the numbering sequence. • Boniface: Antipope Boniface VII (974 and 984–985) was kept 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).