The new Pope Leo XIV was elected this week, but the title of Pope has been bestowed 267 times over thousands of years, starting with Saint Peter around 30 AD. With a timeline that long, it’s no wonder that the Catholic Church and the papacy have a long and storied past. From political intrigue to botched embalmings to corpses on trial, here are 13 of the weirdest facts about popes through history:
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Pope Pius XII requested an “alternative” embalming method, which resulted in him “exploding” while lying in state due to a buildup of gas in his body.
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Pope Leo X received an elephant from King Manuel I of Portugal in 1513. The elephant’s name was Hanno, and the pope liked him so much that he personally wrote a letter to Manuel thanking him.
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After Pope Formosus died in 891, his successor and political enemy, Pope Stephen VI, dug up his corpse and put it on trial.
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As Pope Innocent VIII lay on his deathbed in 1492, he drank breastmilk from a wet nurse as it was believed that was the only thing he could digest.
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Saint Hormisdas and Saint Silverius are the only known legitimate father and son who have both been popes. Hormisdas was married prior to becoming pope, and his marriage produced a son who was later elevated to the position.
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Pope John Paul II was the victim of an attempted assassination in 1981. He was shot in his hand and abdomen. Two bystanders were also shot.
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Pope Clement VI held the title during the Black Death (the bubonic plague), and in 1349, he consecrated (made sacred) the Rhône River in France so that people’s remains could be thrown into it and washed away.
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Pope Pius XI was a scholar and avid mountaineer, and even wrote a book on mountain climbing, published in 1923.
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Pope John Paul I was the last pope to use the sedia gestatoria in 1978, which is a portable throne carried by 12 footmen.
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The longest-reigning documented pope was Pope Pius IX at 31 years, seven months (1846-1878), and the shortest was Pope Urban VII at only 13 days (September 15, 1590- September 27, 1590). The oldest pope elected was Pope Leo XIII at 81 (1878), and the youngest was Pope Benedict IX, who was elected around age 18 (1032).
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And finally, Pope Benedict XVI had an organ donor card. After questions arose in 2011, the Catholic Church was forced to issue a statement that becoming pope meant he could no longer donate his organs.
Now I have to know: which one of these facts was your favorite? Let us know in the comments.