Coat of Arms of the Holy See. 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.
Overview 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 [1] (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 )
Statistics table
Popes from the Western and Eastern Roman 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 Syria
Popes by nationality The concept of nationality only arose during the Middle Ages.[citation needed ]
Argentina
Austria
England England is part of the modern United Kingdom .
France 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.
Kingdom of France (medieval)French Pope Clement V.
Holy Roman Empire
Germany
Holy Roman Empire
Federal Republic of Germany
Italy 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
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Spain 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
External links "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:"Crónica de los Papas": of P.G. Maxwell Stuart, "Vatican facts": of Nino Lo Bello , "Saints and Sinners": of historian Eamon Duffy Liber Pontificalis