List of popes: Encyclopedia II - List of popes - Notes on numbering of popes

List of popes - Notes on numbering of popes

Hermannus Contractus may have been the first historian to number the popes continuously. His list ends in 1049 with Pope Leo IX as the number 154. On that basis, the current Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th pope.

A number of anomalies in the list given above need further explanation:

• Felix II (356-357), Boniface VII (974, 984-985), John XVI (997-998), Benedict X (1058-1059) and Alexander V (1409-1410) are not listed because they are considered antipopes.
• The numbering of popes named Felix has been amended to omit antipope Felix II. However, most lists still call the last two Felixes Felix III and Felix IV. Additionally, there was an antipope Felix V.
• There has never been a pope John XX as a result of confusion of the numbering system in the 11th century.
• Stephen II, who died before being consecrated, is not on the Vatican's official list of popes since 1961, but is still listed here, mainly because the public domain version of the Catholic Encyclopedia dates from 1913! The numbering of following popes called Stephen are nowadays given as Stephen II to Stephen IX, rather than Stephen III to Stephen X.
• When Simon de Brion became pope in 1281, he chose to be called Martin. At that time, Marinus I and Marinus II were mistakenly considered to be Martin II and Martin III respectively, and so, somewhat erroneously, Simon de Brion became Pope Martin IV.
• In legend, an English woman reigned as Pope Joan following the death of Leo IV, from 855 to 858. However, this is impossible: Leo IV was immediately succeeded by Benedict III and was challenged by an antipope during that time.
• Pope Donus II, said to have reigned about 974, never existed. The belief resulted from the confusion of the title dominus (lord) with a proper name.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Notes on numbering of popes", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki