Curiosities and records in the Papacy: names, ages and peculiarities of the Popes throughout history

Two hundred and sixty-seven names. Many saints, many blesseds. The list of Popes is very long. Many names repeated, the sequence marked by Roman numerals except Francis, the only one not to have predecessors with the same name, besides Peter of course.

And now with Prevost the trail of popes who have chosen to be called Leo is lengthening. The first Pontiff in history to choose a name other than his baptismal name was John II, registered as Mercurio . The youngest was Benedict IX who, at the time of his election, was estimated to have been between 20 and 25 years old. The oldest was Clement X, 79 years and 290 days old. Albino Luciani, i.e. John Paul I, was the only one to have chosen a double name.

He was succeeded by Wojtyla who paid homage to him by calling himself John Paul II. There are many curiosities that accompany the almost two thousand years of the Catholic Church, starting with the most popular names among the Pontiffs. Leading the particular ranking is John (the last was the XXIII), followed by Gregory and Benedict, tied at 16. They are followed by Clement (14), Innocent (13), Leo (13) and Pius (12).

The most represented order is that of the Benedictines - there are 17 -, then the Canons Regular (7), Franciscans (5), Dominicans (4) and Cistercians (2).

Only one, always the Argentine Bergoglio, was a Jesuit . Obviously the continent with the most Popes is Europe, with 252 Popes of which 217 are Italian, 16 from the French area, 6 from the German area, 4 from the Greek-Catholic area, 4 from the Iberian area, 2 from Dalmatia, one each from England, the Netherlands and Poland. In total there are 82 Popes venerated as saints, eleven blessed. Three (Benedict XIII, Pius VII and Pius XII) are in the process of beatification. The century with the greatest number of Popes was the 10th, during which 22 Popes were elected.