List of Popes - Notes On Numbering of Popes

Notes On Numbering of Popes

A number of anomalies in the list given above need further explanation:

• Felix II (356–357), Boniface VII (974, 984–985), John XVI (997–998), Benedict X (1058–1059) and Alexander V (1409–1410) are not listed because all of them are considered antipopes.
• The numbering of popes named Felix has been amended to omit antipope Felix II; however, most lists still call the last two Felixes Felix III and Felix IV. Additionally, there was an antipope Felix V.
• There has never been a pope John XX as a result of confusion of the numbering system in the 11th century.
• Pope-elect Stephen, who died before being consecrated, has not been on the Vatican's official list of popes since 1961, but appears on lists dating from before 1960. The numbering of following popes called Stephen are nowadays given as Pope Stephen II (752–757) to Pope Stephen IX (1057–1058), rather than Stephen III to Stephen X.
• When Simon de Brion became pope in 1281, he chose to be called Martin. At that time, Marinus I and Marinus II were mistakenly considered to be Martin II and Martin III respectively, and so, erroneously, Simon de Brion became Pope Martin IV.
• Pope Donus II, said to have reigned about 974, never existed. The belief resulted from the confusion of the title dominus (lord) with a proper name.
• Pope Joan also probably never existed; however, legends about her may have originated from stories about the pornocracy.
• The status of Antipope John XXIII was uncertain for hundreds of years, and was finally settled in 1958 when Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli announced his own name as John XXIII. Baldassare Cossa, who was Antipope John XXIII, served as a Cardinal of the reunited church before his death in 1419 and his remains are found in the Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence).