PAPAL PARAPHERNALIA

 

• The first Pope in an alphabetical list is Adeodatus and the last is Zosimus
• A total of 26 Popes have been assassinated
• The shortest serving Pope, Stephen ll, served for just one day inAD752
• The youngest Pope at the age of l2 was Pope Benedict IX
• The white smoke from the Vatican palace, that signals the election of a new Pope, is caused by the burning of the ballot papers
• ln 1982, Pope John Paul ll became the first Pope to visit Britain
• Nicholas Breakspeare was the only Englishman to be elected pope, taking the papal name of Adrian lV
• The last non-ltalian Pope before Pope John Paul ll was Dutchman Adrian Vl in1522
• ln the last millennium there were 205 ltalian Popes, 19 French Popes, 14 Greek Popes, 8 Syrian Popes, 5 German Popes, 3 African popes, 2 Spanish Popes, 1 Austrian Pope, 1 Palestinian Pope, 1 English Pope, I Dutch Pope and 1 Polish Pope
• The three most common names for popes are John (2J times), Gregory (16 times) and Benedict (16 times)