Some versions of the legend suggest that subsequent popes were subjected to an examination whereby, having sat on a dung chair containing a hole called sedia stercoraria, a cardinal had to reach up and establish that the new pope had testicles, before announcing " Duos habet et bene pendentes " (" He has two, and they dangle nicely "), or " habet " (" he has ' em ") for short.

It is hard not to lay most of the blame for their failures on the pope.

To the pope, head of the universal Church, to the duke of Burgundy, taking full advantage of his position on the borders of France and of the Empire, or to Othon, who found it quite natural that he should do homage to Edward for Tipperary and to the count of Savoy for Grandson, Flotte's outspoken nationalism was completely incomprehensible.

There are a great many bishops who have never had a cross on their bosom, nor a mitre on their head, who appeal not to the authority of the Pope at Rome, but to the Almighty Dollar, a pope much nearer home.

Popes and sovereigns gradually encroached on the rights of the monks, until in Italy the pope had usurped the nomination of all abbots, and the king in France, with the exception of Cluny, Premontré and other houses, chiefs of their order.

Angilbert delivered the document on Iconoclasm from the Frankish Synod of Frankfurt to Pope Adrian I, and was later sent on three important embassies to the pope, in 792, 794 and 796.

Sylvester III, sometimes listed as an antipope, appears in the Holy See's Annuario Pontificio as a pope: because of obscurities about mid-11th-century canon law and the historical facts, it expresses no judgement on his legitimacy.

Algardi, on the other hand, was embraced by the new pope and the pope's nephew, Camillo Pamphilj.

At the Siege of Bayonne in October 1131, three years before his death, he published a will leaving his kingdom to three autonomous religious orders based in Palestine and politically largely independent on the pope, the Knights Templars, the Hospitallers, and the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, whose influences might have been expected to cancel one another out.

Alexander V died soon after, and on 25 May 1410 Cossa was consecrated pope, taking the name John XXIII.

Pope Martin V protested in vain against the inscription on the sarcophagus: " John the former pope ".

Finding Rome locked against him and held by Ageltrude, he had to take the city by force on 21 February 896, freeing the pope.

By decree of pope Leo X they were created papal nobles, ranking as Comes palatinus (' Count Palatine '), familiars and members of the papal household, so that they might enjoy all the privileges of domestic prelates and of prelates in actual attendance on the Pope, as regards plurality of benefices as well as expectives.

; Cardinal: In Roman Catholicism, a cardinal is a member of the clergy appointed by the pope to serve in the College of Cardinals, the body empowered to elect the pope ; however, on turning 80 a cardinal loses this right of election.

The right to enter the conclave of cardinals who elect the pope is now limited to those who have not reached the age of 80 years on the day of the pope's death or resignation.

In the past, during papal coronations, the Proto-Deacon also had the honor of bestowing the pallium on the new pope and crowning him with the papal tiara.

However, the Proto-Deacon still has the privilege of bestowing the pallium on a new pope at his papal inauguration.

The pope chooses the image on the outside: under Pope Benedict XVI it is a modern depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus, with Mary and John to each side.

Unable, however, to resist the urging of Charles V, the pope, after proposing Mantua as the place of meeting, convened the council at Trent ( at that time a free city of the Holy Roman Empire under a prince-bishop ), on December 13, 1545 ; the Pope's decision to transfer it to Bologna in March, 1547 on the pretext of avoiding a plague failed to take effect and the Council was indefinitely prorogued on 17 September 1549.

The whole, however, may be judged from this fragment: " We Irish, though dwelling at the far ends of the earth, are all disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul ... we are bound to the Chair of Peter, and although Rome is great and renowned, through that Chair alone is she looked on as great and illustrious among us ... On account of the two Apostles of Christ, you pope are almost celestial, and Rome is the head of the whole world, and of the Churches ".

Though in theory subject directly to the pope, these rulers had been practically independent or dependent on other states for generations.

Her two children by Philip II, Philip, count of Clermont ( died 1234 ), and Mary, who married Philip I of Namur, were legitimized by the pope in 1201 at the request of the king.

The arrangement mirrors the one designed by Bernini for the Tomb of Urban VIII ( 1628 – 47 ), with a central hieratic sculpture of the pope seated in full regalia and offering a hand of blessing, while at his feet, two allegorical female figures flank his sarcophagus.

In this relief, the two principal figures, the stern and courageous pope and the dismayed and frightened Attila, surge forward from the center into three dimensions.

After thirty years of schism, the Council of Pisa had sought to resolve the situation by deposing the two claimant popes and elected a new pope, Alexander V. The council claimed that in such a situation, a council of bishops had greater authority than just one bishop, even if he were the bishop of Rome.

Though Alexander and his successor, John XXIII, gained widespread support, especially at the cost of the Avignon pope, the schism remained, now involving not two but three claimants: Gregory XII at Rome, Benedict XIII at Avignon and John XXIII.

Henry IV restored the charter granted to Gibraltar in 1310 and took two additional measures: the lands previously belonging to Algeciras ( destroyed in 1369 ) were granted to Gibraltar ; and the status of collegiate church was solicited from the pope Pius II and granted to the parish church of Saint Mary the Crowned (), now the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned, on the site of the old main Moorish Mosque.

The marriage was ultimately annulled by the pope under the pretext of consanguinity and Eleanor soon married the Duke of Normandy – Henry Fitzempress, who would become King of England as Henry II two years later.

After two more years of study and consultation, the pope issued Humanae Vitae, which removed any doubt that hormonal anti-ovulants are contraceptive.

He referred to the conditions under which the condemnation of his 18 theses was brought about ; and the same may be said of his books dealing with the Church, the office of king, and the power of the pope – all completed within the space of two years ( 1378 – 79 ).

Cardinale ( 1983 ), the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded by two Bolognese nobles Loderingo degli Andalò and Catalano di Guido in 1233, and approved by pope Alexander IV in 1261.

On 17 July 1251, the pope signed two crucial papal bulls.

The most distinguished of his sons was however Giovanni Gaetano ( died 1280 ): elected pope as Nicholas III, he named the nephew Bertoldo ( died 1289 ) as count of Romagna and had two nephews and a brother created cardinals.

Though unique for each pope, the arms are always surmounted by the two keys in saltire ( i. e., crossed over one another so as to form an X ) behind the escutcheon ( shield ) ( one silver key and one gold key, tied with a red cord ), and above them a silver triregnum with three gold crowns and red infulae ( lappets — two strips of fabric hanging from the back of the triregnum which fall over the neck and shoulders when worn ).

The flag most frequently associated with the pope is the yellow and white flag of Vatican City, with the arms of the Holy See ( blazoned: " Gules, two keys in saltire or and argent, interlacing in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or ") on the right-hand side ( the " fly ") in the white half of the flag ( the left-hand side — the " hoist "— is yellow ).

He was one of only two men known to have served as Camerlengo immediately prior to being elected as pope ( the other being Pope Leo XIII ).

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.

He participated in the papal election of 1143, the first undisturbed papal election that Rome had seen for eighty-two years, and was elected pope two days after the death of Innocent II, on 25 September 1143, taking the name of Celestine.

He issued two other decrees: one confirmed an earlier decree of Pope Gregory X that ordered the shutting of the cardinals in a conclave to elect a new pope ; the second declared the right of any pope to abdicate the papacy, a right that he himself exercised at the end of five months and eight days at Naples on 13 December 1294.

On 5 December 1590, after two months of deadlock, Sfondrati, one of Philip II's seven candidates but who had not aspired to the office, was elected pope.

During his two years as pope, Stephen confirmed the privileges of a few religious houses in France and Italy.