Links between popes

There have been several papal families:

  • Pope Hormisdas was the father of Pope Silverius.
  • The Borgias provided several Popes, as did the Medici family.
  • Many Popes up to the early Renaissance engaged in nepotism - appointing younger male relatives to important ecclesiastical and other posts.

Medici Popes and Cardinals

  • Giovanni de' Medici (1475–1523), became Pope Leo X (Pope 1513-1523)
    • (Cousin of...)
  • Giulio de' Medici (1478–1534), became Pope Clement VII (Pope 1523-1534)
  • Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici (1535–1605), became Pope Leo XI (Pope 1605)

The following were Medici Cardinals:

  • Ippolito de' Medici (1511–1535), Cardinal
  • Giovanni de' Medici (1543–1562), bishop of Pisa and cardinal
  • Carlo de' Medici (1595-1666), Dean of the College of Cardinals
  • Giovanni Carlo de' Medici (Giancarlo) (1611–1663), Bishop of Sabina, created cardinal in 1644
  • Leopoldo de' Medici (1617–1675), created cardinal in 1667
  • Francesco Maria de' Medici (1660–1711), Cardinal

Coincidences and other non-familial connections

  • The first popes to die in the 20th and 21st centuries were the (then) third-longest serving popes (Leo XIII and John Paul II).
  • Pius XI and John Paul II were mountaineers.
  • Benedict XIV died on the same night as the head of the Jesuit order (otherwise known as the Black Pope).
  • Pope Paul VI appointed his three successors (John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI) as Cardinals.
  • Pope Leo XIII in 1899, considering the forthcoming Papal Jubilee that he had, attended the last one in 1825, and had been presented to Leo XII.

See also

  • Cardinal-nephew
  • List of Cardinal-nephews