Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Pontifical Facts
33 Months
Duration of the longest papal concalve, from 1268 to 1271. The weary residents of Viterbo, Italy, turned against the bickering electors, tore the roof off the building in which they were meeting and cut their food supply to spur them into action. Gregory X soon became Pope.
Which begs the question, why do they need a Pope at all, if they can do without one for almost 3 yrs??
12 Days
Length of the shortest pontificate, Urban VII (1590). Others point to Stephen II (752), who died four days after his election but before his consecration as Pope.
These people take so long to decide, the poor guys probably died from the excitement.
533
Year that Pontiffs began adopting reign names. A man named Mercurius was elected Pope, and since it would have been unseemly for the Vicar of Jesus Christ to bear the name of a pagan god, he chose to be called John II.
Tch tch! What were his parents thinking?
3
Number of times Benedict IX, left became Pope, in 1032,1045 and 1047. He was the nephew of his two immediate predecessors and became notorious for selling the papacy and maneuvering to reclaim it.
An obvious comparison to Indian politicians, especially from the state of Uttar Pradesh.
-- Taken from the TIME issue dated April 11.
Duration of the longest papal concalve, from 1268 to 1271. The weary residents of Viterbo, Italy, turned against the bickering electors, tore the roof off the building in which they were meeting and cut their food supply to spur them into action. Gregory X soon became Pope.
Which begs the question, why do they need a Pope at all, if they can do without one for almost 3 yrs??
12 Days
Length of the shortest pontificate, Urban VII (1590). Others point to Stephen II (752), who died four days after his election but before his consecration as Pope.
These people take so long to decide, the poor guys probably died from the excitement.
533
Year that Pontiffs began adopting reign names. A man named Mercurius was elected Pope, and since it would have been unseemly for the Vicar of Jesus Christ to bear the name of a pagan god, he chose to be called John II.
Tch tch! What were his parents thinking?
3
Number of times Benedict IX, left became Pope, in 1032,1045 and 1047. He was the nephew of his two immediate predecessors and became notorious for selling the papacy and maneuvering to reclaim it.
An obvious comparison to Indian politicians, especially from the state of Uttar Pradesh.
-- Taken from the TIME issue dated April 11.
