List of popes by country

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

Coat of Arms of the Holy See.

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.

Overview

There have been 266 popes, of which:

Statistics table

NationalityNumber of popes
Africa Province (Roman Empire)3
Argentina1
Asia Minor2
Croatia (Kingdom of the Lombards)
Dalmatia
2
England1
Kingdom of France (medieval)
French part of Holy Roman Empire
16
German part of Holy Roman Empire
Modern Germany
6
Roman Greece
Byzantine Greece
4
Italian Peninsula (see table below)217
Roman Galilee
Iudaea Province (Roman Empire)
Byzantine Palestine
3
Dutch part of Holy Roman Empire1
People's Republic of Poland1
Lusitania (Roman Empire)
Portugal
2
Roman Syria
Byzantine Syria
5
Spain (Valencia in the Crown of Aragon)2
Total266

Popes from the Roman and Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Italy

Byzantine Sicily

Greece

Lusitania Province

Lusitania corresponds to present-day Portugal.

Roman Africa

Roman African Pope Miltiades.

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

Roman and Byzantine Syria

Roman Dalmatia

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

Roman Galilee and Iudaea Province

Roman Italy

Roman Sardinia

Popes by nationality

The concept of nationality only arose during the Middle Ages.

Argentina

Austria

England

England is part of the modern United Kingdom.

France

French is the most common non-Italian papal ancestry. Seventeen 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.

Kingdom of France (medieval)

French Pope Clement V.

Holy Roman Empire


Holy Roman Empire

Federal Republic of Germany

Italian peninsula

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.

Ostrogothic Kingdom

Papal States

Kingdom of Naples

Italy in the Holy Roman Empire

Republic of Genoa

Republic of Venice

Venetian Pope Clement XIII.

Republic of Florence/Duchy of Florence/Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Duchy of Milan

Other Italian States

Kingdom of Italy (modern) and Italian Republic

Holy Roman Empire

Poland

Portugal

Valencia

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


Bibliography

  • 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

References

  1. western Libya, Tunisia, eastern Algeria
  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
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