Confessional Lutheranism rejects Apostolic succession, stating that that there's no evidence the Popes have historic succession from Peter other than their own claim that it is so.

) Since Popes can dispense from church laws, they have sometimes brought the number of cardinals under the age of 80 to more than 120, perhaps calculating that the number would be sufficiently reduced by the time the need for a conclave would arise.

Popes have gradually been forced to give up temporal power, and papal authority is now almost exclusively restricted to matters of religion.

We have preferred to hide the smallness of our name behind this magnificent succession of Roman Popes.

There have been sixteen Popes named Benedict, as well as at least three Antipopes by the name.

Somewhat unusually for Popes of the era, Clement IX did not have his name displayed on monuments he built.

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.

Although there have been eight German Popes, Victor II is one of only three Popes from the territory of present-day Germany, the others being Pope Clement II ( 1046 – 47 ) and the current Benedict XVI.

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

On the other hand, many historians now point out that most of the negative social factors popularly associated with the medieval period – poverty, warfare, religious and political persecution, for example – seem to have worsened in this era which saw the rise of Machiavellian politics, the Wars of Religion, the corrupt Borgia Popes, and the intensified witch-hunts of the 16th century.

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.

Many have claimed that Vatican II went much further in encouraging " active participation " than previous Popes had allowed or recommended.

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.

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

Given the fact that the following Popes John, from John XV ( 985 – 996 ) until John XIX ( 1024 – 1034 ), seemed to have neglected the existence of John XIV " bis ", Petrus Hispanus meant to correct this error by electing for himself the name John XXI.

Popes during this period whose tombs are unknown and who may have been buried in the Lateran basilica include: Pope John XVII ( 1003 ), Pope John XVIII ( 1003 – 1009 ), and Pope Alexander II ( 1061 – 1073 ).

Rumors and speculation about the 1958 and 1963 conclaves may have received added attention because it was under the Popes who were then elected that the Second Vatican Council was held and its decrees were implemented.

Sedevacantists are those who believe the Pope or previous Popes have fallen into heresy and therefore the Pope and those bishops in union with him have forfeited their authority.

There have been several Popes who were known or alleged to have been sexually active during their reign, or even to have died as a result of this, as claimed by various authors in history.

In later years, Popes have also criticised some of the more extreme versions of corporate capitalism.

This name, based on the black colour of his cassock, was used to suggest a parallel between him and the " White Pope " ( since the time of Pope Pius V the Popes dresses in white ) and the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples ( formerly called the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith ), whose red cardinal's cassock gave him the name of the " Red Pope " in view of the authority over all territories that were not considered in some way Catholic.

Pacelli took the same papal name as his predecessor, a title used exclusively by Italian Popes.

It has been speculated that they originally were Roman bidets or imperial birthing stools, which because of their age and imperial links were used in ceremonies by Popes intent on highlighting their own imperial claims ( as they did also with their Latin title, Pontifex Maximus ).

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.

When regnal numbering of the Popes began to be used, Antipope Felix II was counted as one of the Popes of that name.

This was no doubt suggested by the Donation of Constantine, but it now came to be used only at the coronation of Popes, starting with Gregory XI in 1370 and his successor Urban VI in 1378.

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.

In the Roman Catholic Church maces used to be carried before Popes and Cardinals.

Helwig suggested that the supposed title was an expansion of the historical title Vicarius Christi, rather than an official title used by the Popes themselves.

The 8th-century forgery known as the Donation of Constantine, according to which Emperor Constantine I anachronistically granted the see of Rome " supremacy as well over the four principal sees, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, as also over all the churches of God in the whole earth " was not used by the Popes in the 9th and 10th centuries, not even in the conflict between Pope Nicholas I and Photius I of Constantinople.

* Roman Catholics have used the word Romanitas for centuries to express their adherence to the Apostolic See of St. Peter and the Popes, as well as to Roman ecclesiastical culture.

* The Vatican monstrance ( Latin: Ostensorio Vaticana ) of is one of the most exquisite monstrances used by recent Popes, as it is an exact miniature of the Baldachin inside St. Peter's Basilica.

His firm rule and his taxes gained him the enmities of the cities, which were used to the fair authority of the Popes.

Pope John Paul II gave access to some formerly secret Vatican archives to scholars, one of whom, David Kertzer, used information thus obtained in his book The Popes Against the Jews.

It was originally used for all bishops, but from the 7th century on, it was only used for Popes, Patriarchs and some secular rulers, and from the 14th century on its use has been restricted to the Supreme Pontiff.

For several centuries, Popes have worn it during processions, as when entering or leaving Saint Peter's Basilica, but during liturgies they used an episcopal mitre instead.

The Fisherman's Ring was first mentioned in a letter of Pope Clement IV to his nephew in 1265 wherein he mentions that Popes were accustomed to sealing public documents with a leaden " bulla " attached, and private letters with " the seal of the Fisherman " ( by the fifteenth century, the Fisherman's Ring was used to seal Papal briefs ).

On 16 March 2008, at the Palm Sunday celebrations in Saint Peter's Square, Pope Benedict XVI used the Papal Cross that had been previously used by Popes Pius XI and Pius XII.

While the rituals used for the inaugurations of Popes John Paul I and John Paul II were provisional ad hoc rites, the one used for Pope Benedict XVI was not.

On the right is the Saint Archangel Gabriel carrying a 3-bar cross used by Popes at the time and nails.

According to the repeated statements of Popes and lay Catholic leaders, the laity should say " we are the Church ," in the same way that the saints said that " Christ lives in me.