A few facts about Popes

• The first Pope or Papa, St. Peter, was born in West Asia. He died in Rome, leading to the shift of Christianity to Rome.
• The next Pope, Linus, was born in the region now known as Italy. Most Popes since then have been of Italian origin.
• The third Pope, Anacletus, was the first Greek Pope. Most of the early Popes were either of Italian or Greek or West Asian origin.
• The 14th Pope, Victor I, was the first African Pope and was a Berber born in the region now known as Libya. He, however, was not the first Pope from the Southern Hemisphere. That distinction belongs to Francis who became Pope in 2013.
• In 217 CE, the tradition of having two claimants to the title of Pope started. Such disputes continued on and off till the accession of Nicholas V in 1447 CE.
• Boniface II, who became Papa in 530, was the first Germanic Pope.
• Gregory III, who became Pope in 731, was born in West Asia, and was the last non-European Pope before Francis in 2013.
• Leo III, crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor on Christmas Day 800 CE. It established the office of the Holy Roman Emperor and also the tradition of the Holy Roman Emperor having to seek the sanction of the Pope for his legitimacy. This dual power centre set off further skirmishes later on.
• John VIII, who became Papa in 872, was the first Pope who was assassinated.
• Sylvester II, who became Pope in 999, was the first French/ Occitan Papa. After Gregory XI, who became Pope in 1370, there has not yet been any other French Pope.
• Adrian IV, in 1154, became the first and till date the only English Pope.
• John XXI, in 1276, became the first Portuguese Pope.
• Benedict XIII, who was a claimant to the title of Pope, became the first Spanish claimant in 1394. After the end of the Western Schism, Callixtus III, who was a Borja, became the universally acknowledged Pope in 1455.
• Alexander VI, a Borja, was the last non-Italian (Spanish) Pope before John Paul II in 1978, who became the first Polish Pope.
• Leo X, in 1513, became the Pope. He was the son of Lorenzo de' Medici.
• Adrian VI, in 1522, became the only Dutch Pope.
• The next Pope, Clement VII, was also a Medici, and forbade the divorce of Henry VIII of England.
• Francis, in 2013, became the first Pope from the Americas and the first from the Southern Hemisphere.

In addition, whenever I think of Popes, I am reminded of two poems by Robert Browning,'The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church' and 'Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister'