When Pope John XXIII abolished the limit, he began to add new churches to the list, which Popes Paul VI and John Paul II continued to do.

In fact several Popes were suspected of having a strong interest or practicing alchemy and it was only with Pope John XXII, who was himself suspected of being a magician, that sorcery became another form of heresy and thus liable of persecution by the Inquisition.

This was certainly not done on the deaths of Popes John Paul I and John Paul II.

This was the first time in over 500 years that this name had been chosen ; previous Popes had avoided its use since the time of the Antipope John XXIII during the Western Schism.

Three Popes and the Cardinal: The Church of Pius, John and Paul in its Encounter with Human History.

Three Popes and the Cardinal: The Church of Pius, John and Paul in its Encounter with Human History.

The existence of a second Pope John XIV was widely accepted in the 13th century, hence the numbering of Popes John XV through XIX was regarded as being erroneous.

* Norwich, John Julius, The Popes: A History ( 2011 )

There have been other Popes who were suspected of sorcery, for example John XXI ( 1276 – 77 ) and Benedict XII ( 1334 – 42 ).

Sedevacantists believe that Paul VI ( 1963 – 1978 ), John Paul I ( 1978 ), John Paul II ( 1978 – 2005 ) and Benedict XVI ( since 2005 ) have been neither true Catholics nor true Popes, by virtue of allegedly having espoused the heresy of Modernism, or of having otherwise denied or contradicted solemnly defined Catholic dogmas.

* October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605.

* Norwich, John Julius, The Popes: A History ( 2011 )

To the north and south of the rock of the Doms, partly on the site of the Bishop's Palace, which had been enlarged by John XXII, was built the Palace of the Popes, in the form of an imposing fortress consisting of towers, linked to each other, and named as follows: De la Campane, de Trouillas, de la Glacière, de Saint-Jean, des Saints-Anges ( Benedict XII ), de la Gâche, de la Garde-Robe ( Clement VI ), de Saint-Laurent ( Innocent VI ).

Popes such as John XXII, Benedict XII and Clement VI reportedly spent fortunes on expensive wardrobe, and at banquets, silver and gold plates were used.

He was a Roman nobleman who had served under eight Popes, been made cardinal-deacon of St. Nicola in Carcere Tulliano by Pope Innocent IV ( 1243 – 54 ), protector of the Franciscans by Pope Alexander IV ( 1254 – 61 ), inquisitor-general by Pope Urban IV ( 1261 – 64 ), and succeeded Pope John XXI ( 1276 – 77 ) after a six-month vacancy in the Holy See resolved in the papal election of 1277, largely through family influence.

Popes Benedict VIII, John XIX, Benedict IX, and antipope Benedict X of the House of Tusculani were also Marozia's descendants.

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI and many Catholic leaders strongly endorse Escrivá's teaching on the universal call to holiness, the role of laity, and sanctification of work.

Each year, Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have released a greeting message for patients and doctors on World AIDS Day.

Confusion in numbering Popes John results from an error in the textual transmission of the entry on John XIV ( 983 / 984 ) in the Liber Pontificalis.

* Pope Paul ( disambiguation ), multiple Popes of the Roman Catholic Church

In both cases the requisite condition was unattainable ; neither in the 16th nor in the 18th century has it been practicable to set bounds to the spirit of inquiry otherwise than by fire and sword, and Ganganelli's successors have been driven into assuming a position analogous to that of Popes Paul IV ( 1555 – 59 ) and Pius V ( 1566 – 72 ) in the age of the Reformation.

Peter the Deacon gives a list of some seventy books Desiderius had copied at Monte Cassino, including works of Saint Augustine, Saint Ambrose, Saint Bede, Saint Basil, Saint Jerome, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Cassian, the registers of Popes Felix and Leo, the histories of Josephus, Paul Warnfrid, Jordanes and Saint Gregory of Tours, the Institutes and Novels of Justinian, the works of Terence, Virgil and Seneca, Cicero's De natura deorum, and Ovid's Fasti.

* May 16 – Pope Paul V succeeds Pope Leo XI as the 233rd pope, making 1605 the last Year of Three Popes until 1978.

Since the lifting of excommunications during the Paul VI and Athenagoras I meeting in Jerusalem there have been other significant meetings between Popes and Ecumenical Patriarchs of Constantinople.

As was usual with Renaissance Popes, Paul IV sought to advance the fortunes of his family as well as that of the papacy.

The larger, called Rocca Maggiore, is a massive presence meant to intimidate the people of the town: it was built by Cardinal Albornoz ( 1367 ) and added to by Popes Pius II and Paul III.

In a passage of his inauguration homily, quoted above, Pope John Paul II remarked that both his immediate predecessor and he himself had wished neither a coronation nor a tiara, and added: " This is not the time to return to a ceremony and an object considered, wrongly, to be a symbol of the temporal power of the Popes.

The triple tiara still featured as one of the ornaments on the personal coat of arms of Popes John Paul I and John Paul II, who never used the actual object.

Examples include tiaras given to Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, the former by John's home region, the latter by Paul's previous archiepiscopal see of Milan on their election to the papacy.

No convincing evidence has ever been produced to support this claim and Siri unambiguously accepted Popes John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, and John Paul II in each of whose elections he took part, and died in full communion with Rome.

In addition, the arts benefited from the patronage of such influential groups as the Medici family of Florence, the Sforza family of Milan and Popes Julius II and Leo X.

This Felix was later confused with a Roman martyr named Felix, with the result that he was included in lists of the Popes as Felix II and that the succeeding Popes of the same name ( Pope Felix III and Pope Felix IV ) were given wrong numerals, as was Antipope Felix V.

In the Italian Peninsula, the defiant attitude of Popes Gregory II and Gregory III on behalf of image-veneration led to a fierce quarrel with the Emperor.

In fact, Popes Vigilius, Pelagius I ( 556-61 ), Pelagius II ( 579-90 ), and Gregory the Great ( 590-604 ) were only aware the Fifth Council specifically dealt with the Three Chapters and make no mention of Origenism or Universalism, nor spoke as if they knew of its condemnation even though Gregory the Great was opposed to the belief of universalism.

Great defenders of Trinitarian faith included the Popes, especially Pope Liberius, who was exiled to Berea by Constantius II for his Trinitarian faith, Damasus I, and several other bishops.

Popes like Alexander VI, an ambitious if spectacularly corrupt politician, and Pope Julius II, a formidable general and statesman, were not afraid to use power to achieve their own ends, which included increasing the power of the papacy.

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.

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.

Rosemary and Darroll Pardoe, authors of The Female Pope: The Mystery of Pope Joan, theorize that if a female pope did exist, a more plausible time frame is 1086 and 1108, when there were several Antipopes ; during this time the reign of the legitimate Popes Victor III, Urban II, and Paschal II was not always established in Rome, since the city was occupied by Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and later sacked by the Normans.

Because of the similarity of the names Marinus and Martinus, Popes Marinus I and Marinus II were, in some sources, mistakenly given the name Martinus ( and were then listed respectively as Martinus II and Martinus III ).

Because of the similarity of the names Marinus and Martinus, Popes Marinus I and Marinus II were, in some sources, mistakenly given the name Martinus ( and were then listed respectively as Martinus II and Martinus III ).

Having reigned for just 22 calendar days, Pope Marcellus II ranks sixth on the list of 10 shortest-reigning Popes.

II: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire, 795-858 ( 1906 )

After about a year in Cluny, Hildebrand returned to Rome in January 1049 with the new Pope Leo IX ( Bruno of Toul ), successor of Popes Clement II and Damasus II.

The son of a Roman noble called Marinus, Stephen IV belonged to the same family which also produced the Popes Sergius II and Adrian II.

II: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire, 795 – 858 ( 1906 )

II: The Popes During the Carolingian Empire, 795 – 858 ( 1906 )