Knowledge

This page is a list of popes by country of origin. They are listed in chronological order within each section.

As the office of pope has existed for almost two millennia, many of the countries of origin of popes no longer exist, and so they are grouped under their modern equivalents.

There have been 266 popes:

• 217 from Italy
• 16 from France (Pope Sylvester II, Pope Stephen IX, Pope Nicholas II, Pope Urban II, Pope Callistus II, Pope Urban IV, Pope Clement IV, Pope Innocent V, Pope Martin IV, Pope Clement V, Pope John XXII, Pope Benedict XII, Pope Clement VI, Pope Innocent VI, Pope Urban V, and Pope Gregory XI)
• 6 from Germany (Pope Gregory V, Pope Clement II, Pope Damasus II, Pope Leo IX, Pope Victor II, and Pope Benedict XVI)
• 5 from the Byzantine Empire in modern-day Syria (Pope Anicetus, Pope John V, Pope Sisinnius, Pope Constantine, and Pope Gregory III)
• 4 from Greece (Pope Anacletus, Pope Hyginus, Pope Eleutherius, and Pope Sixtus II)
• 3 from the Holy Land in modern-day Israel (Pope Peter, Pope Evaristus, and Pope Theodore I)
• 3 from Africa Proconsularis (Pope Victor I, Pope Miltiades, Pope Gelasius I)
• 2 from Dalmatia in modern-day Croatia (Pope Caius and Pope John IV)
• 2 from Valencia in modern-day Spain (Pope Callixtus III and Pope Alexander VI)
• 2 from Portugal (Pope Damasus I and Pope John XXI)
• 2 from Anatolia in modern-day Turkey (Pope Conon and Pope John VI)
• 1 from England (Pope Adrian IV)
• 1 from the Netherlands (Pope Adrian VI)
• 1 from Poland (Pope John Paul II)
• 1 from Argentina (Pope Francis)

Nationality	Number of popes
Africa Province (Roman Empire)	3
Argentina	1
Asia Minor	2
Croatia (Kingdom of the Lombards) Dalmatia	2
England	1
Kingdom of France (medieval) French part of Holy Roman Empire	16
German part of Holy Roman Empire Modern Germany	6
Roman Greece and Byzantine Greece	4
Italian Peninsula (see table below)	217
Roman Galilee Iudaea Province (Roman Empire) Byzantine Palestine	3
Dutch part of Holy Roman Empire	1
People's Republic of Poland	1
Lusitania (Roman Empire) and Portugal	2
Roman Syria and Byzantine Syria	5
Spain (Valencia in the Crown of Aragon)	2
Total	266

• Pope Conon (686–687)

• Pope Telesphorus (126–137)
• Pope Hyginus (c. 138 – c. 140)
• Pope Eleuterus (174/175–189)
• Pope Anterus (235–236)
• Pope Sixtus II (257–258)
• Pope Dionysius (259–268)
• Pope Zosimus (417–418)
• Pope John VI (701–705)
• Pope John VII (705–707)

Lusitania corresponds to present-day Portugal.

• Pope Damasus I (366–384)

These popes are from the Roman province of Africa, which corresponds to the coastal parts of Tunisia, Libya and Algeria.

• Pope Victor I (189–199)
• Pope Miltiades (311–314)
• Pope Gelasius I (492–496)

• Pope Anicetus (c. 154–167)
• Pope John V (685–686)
• Pope Sisinnius (708)
• Pope Constantine (708–715)
• Pope Gregory III (731–741)

Dalmatia was at the time part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. It is now part of the modern Republic of Croatia.

• Pope Caius (283–296)
• Pope John IV (640–642)

• Saint Peter (c. 30 – c. 67); a native of Bethsaida, in the modern Golan Heights
• Pope Evaristus (c. 99 – c. 107); a native of Bethlehem, in the modern West Bank
• Pope Theodore I (642–649); a native of Jerusalem

• Pope Eusebius (309/310)
• Pope John V (685–686)
• Pope Sisinnius (708)
• Pope Constantine (708–715)
• Pope Gregory III (731–741)

The concept of nationality only arose during the Middle Ages.

• Pope Francis (2013–present)

• Pope Gregory V (996–999)

England is part of the modern United Kingdom.

• Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159)

French is the most common non-Italian papal ancestry. Sixteen popes have had French ancestry, all in the second half of the medieval era. The seven popes of the Avignon Papacy were French and are bolded. Since the end of the Avignon Papacy, no French person has been elected pope.

• Pope Silvester II (999–1003): Gerbert of Aurillac
• Pope Urban II (1088–1099): Otho of Lagery (or Otto or Odo)
• Pope Urban IV (1261–1264): Jacques Pantaléon
• Pope Clement IV (1265–1268): Guy Foulques
• Pope Martin IV (1281–1285): Simon de Brie
• Pope Clement V (1305–1314): Bertrand de Got
• Pope John XXII (1316–1334): Jacques d'Euse
• Pope Benedict XII (1334–1342): Jacques Fournier
• Pope Clement VI (1342–1352): Pierre Roger
• Pope Innocent VI (1352–1362): Stephen Aubert
• Pope Urban V (1362–1370): Guillaume de Grimoard
• Pope Gregory XI (1370–1378): Pierre Roger de Beaufort

• Pope Stephen IX (1057–1058) (Duchy of Lorraine): Frederick of Lorraine
• Pope Nicholas II (1059–1061) (Kingdom of Burgundy): Gerard of Burgundy
• Pope Callixtus II (1119–1124) (County of Burgundy): Guido of Vienne
• Pope Innocent V (1276) (Kingdom of Arles): Pierre de Tarentaise

• Pope Gregory V (996-999) (Duchy of Carinthia); now Austria
• Pope Clement II (1046–1047) (Duchy of Saxony)
• Pope Damasus II (1048) (Duchy of Bavaria)
• Pope Leo IX (1049–1054) (Alsace, Duchy of Swabia): Bruno, Count of Dagsburg
• Pope Victor II (1055–1057) (Duchy of Swabia)

• Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013)

The Italian Peninsula, from the beginning of the Middle Ages until the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, was divided into numerous city-states and other political entities. Among these, the Papal States was the birthplace of most of the popes. Other Italian states where more popes were born were the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of Naples, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Milan and the Florentine Republic and its successor the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

• Pope Hormisdas (514–523)
• Pope John I (523–526)
• Pope Felix IV (526–530)
• Pope Boniface II (530–532)
• Pope John II (533–535)
• Pope Agapetus I (535–536)
• Pope Vigilius (537–555)

• Pope Urban VI (1378–1389)
• Pope Boniface IX (1389–1404)
• Pope Innocent VII (1404–1406)
• Pope Paul IV (1555–1559)
• Pope Innocent XII (1691–1700)
• Pope Benedict XIII (1724–1730)

• Pope John XIV (983–984)
• Pope Alexander II (1061–1073)
• Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085)
• Pope Eugene III (1145–1153)
• Pope Alexander III (1159–1181)
• Pope Lucius III (1181–1185)
• Pope Urban III (1185–1187)
• Pope Celestine IV (1241)
• Pope Gregory X (1271–1276)
• Pope Benedict XI (1303–1304)

• Pope Innocent IV (1243–1254)
• Pope Adrian V (1276)
• Pope Nicholas V (1447–1455)
• Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484)
• Pope Innocent VIII (1484–1492)
• Pope Julius II (1503–1513)

• Pope Gregory XII (1406–1415)
• Pope Eugene IV (1431–1447)
• Pope Paul II (1464–1471)
• Pope Alexander VIII (1689–1691)
• Pope Clement XIII (1758–1769)
• Pope Gregory XVI (1831–1846)

• Pope Leo X (1513–1521)
• Pope Clement VII (1523–1534)
• Pope Leo XI (1605)
• Pope Urban VIII (1623–1644)
• Pope Alexander VII (1655–1667)
• Pope Clement IX (1667–1669)
• Pope Clement XII (1730–1740)

• Pope Pius IV (1559–1565)
• Pope Pius V (1566–1572)
• Pope Gregory XIV (1590–1591)
• Pope Innocent XI (1676–1689)

• Pope Victor III (1086–1087) (Duchy of Benevento)
• Pope Gelasius II (1118–1119) (Duchy of Gaeta)
• Pope Celestine V (1294) (Kingdom of Sicily)
• Pope Pius II (1458–1464) (Republic of Siena)
• Pope Pius III (1503) (Republic of Siena)

• Pope Pius X (1903–1914)
• Pope Benedict XV (1914–1922)
• Pope Pius XI (1922–1939)
• Pope Pius XII (1939–1958)
• Pope John XXIII (1958–1963)
• Pope Paul VI (1963–1978)
• Pope John Paul I (1978)

• Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523) (Bishopric of Utrecht)

• Pope John Paul II (1978–2005)

• Pope John XXI (1276–1277) (Kingdom of Portugal)

The Kingdom of Valencia was then part of the possessions of the Crown of Aragon; it is now part of modern Spain.

• Pope Callixtus III (1455–1458)
• Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503)

• Saints and Sinners, a History of the Popes. Yale University Press. 1997. ISBN 0-300-07332-1.
• The Incredible Book of Vatican Facts and Papal Curiosities – a treasury of trivia, Gramercy Books, New York, 1998 ISBN 0-517-22083-0

• "Every Pope ever: the full list". TheGuardian.com. 13 February 2013. at The Guardian
• "Lista de los Papas: y comentarios triviales". rcadena.net (in Spanish). Translated by R. Cadena Cepeda. Archived from the original on April 15, 2002. Retrieved Aug 13, 2018. San Pedro (32 AD-67). Judío, Pescador. Nació en 4 A.C. Casado, con una hija: Petronila. Nombre arameo: Simón Bar- Jona. * The list of popes is based on the following bibliography:

1. "Crónica de los Papas": of P.G. Maxwell Stuart,
2. "Vatican facts": of Nino Lo Bello,
3. "Saints and Sinners": of historian Eamon Duffy
4. Liber Pontificalis

Categories:

• Popes by nationality
• Lists of Catholic popes
• Lists of people by occupation and nationality