In the pontificate of Pius II, their number, which had been fixed at twenty-four, had overgrown to such an extent as to diminish considerably the individual remuneration, and, as a consequence, able and competent men no longer sought the office, and hence the old style of writing and expediting the Bulls was no longer used, to the great injury of justice, the interested parties, and the dignity of the Holy See.

Mainly because of its prohibition of all forms of artificial contraception, the encyclical was controversial, as it rejected the majority report on the subject, embracing a minority report maintaining the status quo, and Paul VI did not issue any additional encyclicals in the remaining ten years of his pontificate.

Pius IX, at the beginning of his pontificate, and again after 1851, appointed commissions to investigate the whole subject, and he was advised that the doctrine was one which could be defined and that the time for a definition was opportune.

Other historians suggest that this title was already used in this way in association with the pontificate of Pope Eugenius III ( 1145 – 1153 ).

The Holy See's Annuario Pontificio, in its list of popes and antipopes, attaches a footnote to its mention of Stephen II ( III ): " On the death of Zachary the Roman priest Stephen was elected ; but, since four days later he died, before his consecratio, which according to the canon law of the time was the true commencement of his pontificate, his name is not registered in the Liber Pontificalis nor in other lists of the Popes.

Alexander's pontificate was signaled by efforts to reunite the Eastern Orthodox churches with the Catholic Church, by the establishment of the Inquisition in France, by favours shown to the mendicant orders, and by an attempt to organize a crusade against the Tatars after the second raid against Poland in 1259.

Alexander VII's pontificate was shadowed by continual friction with Cardinal Mazarin, adviser to Louis XIV of France ( 1643 – 1715 ), who had opposed him during the negotiations that led to the Peace of Westphalia and who defended the prerogatives of the Gallican Church.

His pontificate was also marked by protracted controversies with Portugal.

He went to Rome during the pontificate of Pope Urban VIII ( 1623 – 44 ), and was made governor of Terni, Rieti, and Spoleto.

After the long pontificate of Pope Pius XII, the cardinals chose a man who – it was presumed because of his advanced age – would be a short-term or " stop-gap " pope.

The pontificate of Pius XII was the first in Vatican history, which published papal speeches and addresses in vernacular language on a systematic basis.

The major event of his pontificate was the Sixth Ecumenical Council ( 680 – 681 ), which suppressed the Monothelite heresy that had been tolerated by previous popes ( Honorius among them ).

The Annuario Pontificio attaches to its mention of Stephen II ( III ) the footnote: " On the death of Zachary the Roman priest Stephen was elected ; but, since four days later he died, before his consecratio, which according to the canon law of the time was the true commencement of his pontificate, his name is not registered in the Liber Pontificalis nor in other lists of the Popes.

The 16th-century Italian historian Onofrio Panvinio, commenting on one of Bartolomeo Platina's works that refer to Pope Joan, theorized that the story of Pope Joan may have originated from tales of Pope John XII ; John reportedly had many mistresses, including one called Joan, who was very influential in Rome during his pontificate.

He became pope on 27 October 625, two days after the death of his predecessor, Boniface V. The festival of the Elevation of the Cross is said to have been instituted during the pontificate of Honorius, which was marked also by considerable missionary enterprise.

His pontificate was concerned with ensuring that the privileges the Roman Church had obtained through the Concordat of Worms were preserved and, if possible, extended.

The main concern of the first years of Martin's pontificate was the resumed war against Braccio da Montone from 1423.

Perhaps the most important act of Benedict XIV's pontificate was the promulgation of his famous laws about missions in the two bulls, Ex quo singulari and Omnium solicitudinum.

Neither a trained theologian nor skilled in the business of the Curia, he was tactful and prudent in a difficult era, but Ludwig Pastor, who passes swiftly over his pontificate, says, " The numerous endeavours for unity made during this period form one of the saddest chapters in the history of the Church.

Others suggest that his pontificate was perhaps from 140 to 154.

His first public acts of importance were to grant a general pardon to the participators in the riot which had closed the previous pontificate, and to bring to trial the nephews of his predecessor, of whom Cardinal Carlo Carafa was strangled, and Duke Giovanni Carafa of Paliano, with his nearest connections, was beheaded.

The more marked manifestations of stringency during his pontificate appear to have been prompted rather than spontaneous, his personal character inclining him to moderation and ease.

Gregory XIV's brief pontificate was marked by vigorous intervention in favour of the Catholic party in the French Wars of Religion.

The pontificate of Innocent was marked by the struggle between the absolutism and hegemonic intentions of Louis XIV, and the primacy of the Catholic Church.

Nicholas ' brief pontificate was marked by several important events.

The greater part of the year that followed was occupied in one of those progresses through Italy, Germany and France which form a marked feature in Leo IX's pontificate.

" Among those included were the previous decrees placing various heliocentric works on the Index ("... which we will should be considered as though it were inserted in these presents, together with all, and singular, the things contained therein ...") and using his Apostolic authority he bound the faithful to its contents ("... and approve with Apostolic authority by the tenor of these presents, and: command and enjoin all persons everywhere to yield this Index a constant and complete obedience ...") Subsequent to Alexander VII's pontificate, the Index underwent a number of revisions.

But this same generous nature led him to bestow on his relations the riches they were eager to accumulate ; on their behalf, and to the discredit of his pontificate, he revived sinecure offices which had been suppressed by Innocent XI.

During his short pontificate he played the part of a peacemaker ; he came to terms with the Emperor Frederick I in the vexing question of the appointment to the See of Magdeburg and closed the long quarrel, which had raged through four pontificates, about the appointment of William Fitzherbert ( commonly known as Saint William of York ) to the see of York by sending him the pallium in spite of the continued opposition of the powerful Cistercian order.

However, by the pontificate of Honorius II, they had not yet received any official sanction from the papacy.

After a pontificate of fifteen days, he is said by some to have died of the gout, by others to have been forcibly ejected to make way for Stephen VI, the candidate of the Spoletan party.

Three national synods were held during his pontificate at Naples under Alfonso Cardinal Caraffa ( whose family had, after inquiry, been reinstated by Pius V ), at Milan under Saint Charles Borromeo, and at Machim.

Clement II's short pontificate, starting with the Roman synod of 1047, initiated an improvement in the state of affairs within the Roman Church, particularly by enacting decrees against simony.

Notwithstanding the meekness and affability of his upright and moderate character, modest to a fault ( he had the classical sculptures in the Vatican provided with mass-produced fig leaves ) and generous with his extensive private fortune, Clement XIII's pontificate was disturbed by perpetual contentions respecting the pressures to suppress the Jesuits coming from the progressive Enlightenment circles of the philosophes in France.

During the previous pontificate the Jesuits had been expelled from Portugal and from all the Bourbon courts: France, Spain, Naples, and Parma ; now the general suppression of the order was urged by the faction called the " court cardinals ", who were opposed by the diminished pro-Jesuit faction, the Zelanti (" zealous "), who were generally opposed to the encroaching secularism of the Enlightenment.

The estrangement between the secular and the spiritual authority which Ganganelli strove to avert is now irreparable, and his pontificate remains an exceptional episode in the general history of the Papacy, and a proof how little the logical sequence of events can be modified by the virtues and abilities of an individual.

During the pontificate of Pope Constantine Gregory was made a papal secretary, and accompanied him to Constantinople in 711 to deal with the issues raised by Rome ’ s rejection of the canons of the Quinisext Council.

His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by the iconoclastic controversy in the Byzantine Empire, and by the ongoing advance of the Lombards, in which he vainly invoked the intervention of Charles Martel.

After this failure in dabbling in imperial politics, Gregory by and large focused his attention for the rest of his pontificate in dealing with internal church matters.

Benedict IX, wishing to marry and vacate the position into which he had been thrust by his family, consulted his godfather as to whether he could resign the supreme pontificate.

They returned to Italy, where in 1294 Celestine V, noted for his asceticism but whose pontificate lasted scarcely six months, willingly permitted them to live as hermits in the strict observance of the Rule of St. Francis.

In 1840, Gregory XVI placed the society in the rank of Universal Catholic institutions, and on 25 March 1904, in the first year of his pontificate, Pius X recommended it to the charity of all the faithful, praising its work, confirming its privileges, and raising the feast of its patron, St. Francis Xavier, to a higher rite.