This chronological list of popes corresponds to that given in the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani", excluding those that are explicitly indicated as antipopes. Published every year by the Roman Curia, the Annuario Pontificio no longer [|identifies popes by regnal number], stating that it is impossible to decide which pope represented the legitimate succession at various times. The 2001 edition of the Annuario Pontificio introduced "almost 200 corrections to its existing biographies of the popes, from St Peter to John Paul II". The corrections concerned dates, especially in the first two centuries, birthplaces and the family name of one pope. The term pope is used in several churches to denote their high spiritual leaders. This title in English usage usually refers to the head of the Catholic Church. The Catholic pope uses various titles by tradition, including Summus Pontifex, Pontifex Maximus, and Servus servorum Dei. Each title has been added by unique historical events and unlike other papal prerogatives, is not incapable of modification. Hermannus Contractus may have been the first historian to number the popes continuously. His list ends in 1049 with Leo IX as number 154. Several changes were made to the list during the 20th century. Christopher was considered a legitimate pope for a long time. Pope-elect Stephen was listed as Stephen II until the 1961 edition, when his name was removed. The decisions of the Council of Pisa were reversed in 1963 in a reinterpretation of the Western Schism, extending Gregory XII's pontificate to 1415 and classifying rival claimants Alexander V and John XXIII as antipopes. A significant number of these popes have been recognized as saints, including 48 out of the first 50 consecutive popes, and others are in the sainthood process. Of the first 31 popes, 28 died as martyrs.
Chronological list of popes
1st millennium
1st century
2nd century
3rd century
4th century
5th century
6th century
7th century
8th century
9th century
10th century
2nd millennium
11th century
12th century
13th century
14th century
15th century
16th century
17th century
18th century
19th century
20th century
3rd millennium
21st century
Religious orders
51 popes and 6 antipopes have been members of religious orders, including 12 members of third orders. They are listed by order as follows:
Numbering of popes
s follow the usual convention for European monarchs. Popes with unique names are not identified by ordinals. Antipopes are treated as pretenders, and their numbers are reused by those considered to be legitimate popes. However, there are anomalies in the numbering of the popes. Several numbers were mistakenly increased in the Middle Ages because the records were misunderstood. Several antipopes were also kept in the sequence, either by mistake or because they were previously considered to be true popes.
Alexander: Antipope Alexander V was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century, when the Pisan popes were reclassified as antipopes. There had already been three more Alexanders by then, so there is now a gap in the numbering sequence.
Donus: The name has only been used by one pope. The apocryphal Pope Donus II resulted from confusion between the Latin word dominus and the name Donus.
John: The numbering of the Johns is particularly confused. In the modern sequence, the Johns are identified by the numbers they used during their reigns.
* Pope John XXI chose to skip the number XX, believing that there had been another John between XIV and XV. In reality, John XIV had been counted twice.
* By the 16th century, the numbering error had been conflated with legends about a female Pope Joan, whom some authors called John VIII. She was never listed in the Annuario Pontificio.
* Antipope John XXIII was listed in the Annuario Pontificio as a legitimate pope until the 20th century. John XXIII became an antipope when Pope John XXIII chose to reuse the number, citing "twenty-two Johns of indisputable legitimacy."
Stephen: Pope-elect Stephen died before being consecrated. He was previously known as Stephen II, but the Vatican removed him from the official list of popes in 1961. The remaining Stephens are now numbered Pope Stephen II to Pope Stephen IX.
Those who adhere to sedevacantism say that there have been no legitimate popes since Pius XII or John XXIII. This is because they consider all popes since the Second Vatican Council to be heretics.
