Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 40: Urban VII

We've saved the best (or least) for last, as Urban VII holds the record for shortest official pontificate, at just 12 days.

Giovanni Battista Castagna was born into noble Genoese and Roman families, and earned degrees in civil and canon law from Bologna before going to work as an auditor for his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Vellano. He would later work for the Roman Curia and serve in a legation to France before being made an archbishop. He then served in a variety of civil and ecclesiastical roles: as a governor for several Italian regions, a papal nuncio for Venice and Spain, and as papal legate to Flanders. All of this high level work paid off in 1583 when he was made a cardinal by Gregory XIII.

Castagna was a crucial vote in the election of Gregory's successor, Sixtus V, as low turnout and a factional dispute made agreement on a candidate difficult. Sixtus, perhaps in repayment, said he wanted Castagna to succeed him when the time came. An anti-Spanish faction of cardinals opposed Castagna, as he was one of King Philip II's favored candidates.. The election took a week, with the anti-Spanish faction eventually giving in, likely because Castagna's ill health made it likely that he'd not be in office long.

Which came to pass in spades, due to what is thought to have been a case of malaria. In the short time he was in office, Urban provided funds for various public works and subsidized the price of bread in Rome. He also banned nepotism within the Curia, being strongly against the practice. He also instituted what is thought to be the first public smoking ban, as he threatened excommunication for anyone using tobacco in or near a church.

And that's a wrap. Thanks for sticking out another Lentorama. See you in 2026!

Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 39: Damasus II

You may remember the story of Clement II, who was made pope in order to squash three competing claims to the office and give Holy Roman Emperor Henry III a pope who could crown him as emperor. Which would have settled things nicely, except that Clement died less than a year later.

The Roman nobles sent an envoy to Henry to ask who should replace Clement, and just happened to have someone in mind. Rather than take their suggested candidate, Henry then asked the bishop of Liege who he thought should be pope. The bishop suggested one of the three deposed popes, Gregory VI, but by that point Henry was irritated at the length of time it was taking to come up with a pope and decided on the bishop of Brixen. 

Which would have been fine, except that one of the other deposed popes, Benedict IX, reclaimed the throne with the backing of the powerful counts of Tusculum. Henry instructed the Margrave of Tuscany to escort the new pope to Rome, which was ironic in that the margrave didn't like Henry, and was instrumental in getting Benedict back on the throne. The margrave refused to help the new pope, who then went back to Henry, who sent him back to the margrave with a letter basically telling the margrave to depose Benedict and install Damasus, or Henry would come down and make him do so.

This changed the margrave's tune, and he marched on Rome to depose Benedict and get Damasus on the throne. Damasus barely had time to get the seat warm before he died, 23 days after his coronation. Rumor had it that Benedict had Damasus poisoned, but there's some theorizing that Damasus actually died from malaria. 

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 38: Achillas the Great

Another Coptic pope before we wrap things up. Achillas was born in Alexandria, and was appointed to head up the city's catechetical school.  His work there likely led to his honorific "the Great," which referred to his achievements in the study of theology and Greek philosophy.

Pope Peter picked Achillas to be his successor shortly before he was martyred in 312 as part of Diocletian's persecution of Christians. Not the most auspicious way to start. 

Achillas only served six months, and his one notable action was to allow Arius to return to his ministry after Peter had condemned him. Arias is attributed as the founder of Arianism, a theological teaching that rejects the Trinity and holds that Jesus, as a creation of God, is distinct from God. Proving that if you have him an inch he'd take a mile, Arius tried to get himself named as successor to Achillas, but was unsuccessful. 

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 37: Adrian V

Adrian was born into a noble family of Liguria, and was given a number of positions in the church in the mid 13th century, perhaps most notably being made the Cardinal Deacon of San Adriano by his uncle, Pope Innocent IV.

His greatest service to the church came in England, where he was sent to mediate a dispute between King Henry III and his barons (Adrian was related somewhat distantly to Henry by marriage, as his sister was married to a cousin of Henry's wife).

Adrian was successful in that mission, and stayed on in England for some years as papal legate. His name actually appears in the oldest extant English statute law, the 1267 Statute of Marlborough (Adrian is named as a witness to its adoption). Adrian would also promulgate a set of canon for England that remained in force until the Reformation.

Adrian was elected pope after the death of Innocent V, but died in Viterbo just over a month later. For all of his positions in the church, he had never actually been ordained a priest.  For his troubles Adrian shows up in Dante's Divine Comedy on the fifth level of purgatory, reserved for prodigals and the avaricious. It's thought that Dante may have put him there by mistake, attributing accounts of Adrian IV's avarice to the next Adrian in line. There's little existing evidence that Adrian V was especially greedy. It probably didn't help that Adrian V spent a lot of time in England, while Adrian IV was English-born.

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 36: Stephen IX

Born into a ducal family of Lorraine, the future Stephen began his clerical career in Liege, but was soon invited the Rome by Pope Leo IX, who made him chancellor in 1051, and named him one of three legates to Constantinople in 1054. He was on the team that attempted - but failed - to prevent the Great Schism that saw the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches break communion.

Stephen returned to Rome suspiciously richer than when he left. The Byzantine emperor did give gifts to the papal legates (as well as gifts for the Holy See), but it did lead to questions about Stephen's conduct in Constantinople. While he retained the chancellorship under Victor II, these questions eventually led Stephen to leave Rome and take up residence in the monastery at Montecassino. 

A change of Holy Roman Emperor and the reconciliation of Stephen's family with other nobles removed some of the pressure, and a conflict over the naming of a new abbot for Montecassino led Victor to name Stephen the new abbot. This revived his career, and he would later be named a cardinal and would take up residence in Rome near his titular church.

When Victor died in 1057, the Romans drew up a list of possible replacements. The list had five names on it, and after much discussion it was decided that none of them were quite what they wanted. They decided that they wanted Stephen, and talked him into taking the throne.

As pope Stephen was a supporter of the Gregorian Reforms, which sought to reinforce the moral standing and independence of the clergy. He was especially in favor of clerical celibacy, noting it as a primary difference between the Eastern and Western churches. He also pushed reforms at Montecassino, where he remained abbot until his death.

Stephen was also involved in political affairs, which likely led to his death. He was very interested in driving the Normans out of southern Italy, and wanted to tie that into making his brother the Holy Roman Emperor. This wasn't a popular move (nor was his "borrowing" money from Montecassino to fund this adventure), and it's likely that someone among the Romans had Stephen poisoned. Stephen died in Florence 239 days after becoming pope. 

Prior to leaving Rome, Stephen had ordered that if he died, a new pope was not to be elected until Cardinal Hildebrand returned from a mission to Germany. That didn't quite happen, leading to what is now considered the antipapcy of Benedict X.

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 35: John XIV

While many popes were named with the consent of an emperor or king, John is an example of a pope chosen and installed by an emperor without input from nobles or clergy or even an election. Which works out fine - until the emperor dies.

Otto II was the Holy Roman Emperor when Pope Benedict VII died in 983. He wanted the abbot Maiolus of Cluny as the next pope, but Maiolus declined. Otto then turned to the bishop of Pavia, Peter Canepanova, who would eventually accept. He took the name John in deference to St. Peter's role as the first pope, becoming one of the few popes up to then to serve under something other than his birth name.

Otto died not long after John became pope, and the empress left Rome soon after in order to help her son hold the throne. John was left without support, opening the way for the return of Boniface VII. Boniface had held the papacy briefly about a decade before, but was overthrown for his own bad actions while in office. He spent that intervening decade in Constantinople, nurturing relationships that helped him retake the throne. John was imprisoned and died about four months later, though the cause (natural or otherwise) is unknown.

For what it's worth, Boniface's second run as pope lasted less than a year, and after he died (cause also unknown) he was stripped naked, dragged through the streets of Rome, and left under a statue of Marcus Aurelius outside the Lateran Palace.  It would take until the 20th century for Boniface to be considered an antipope and be removed from the list of popes.

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 34: Mark

Not to be confused with the apostle and first patriarch of Alexandria, this Mark was Roman by birth. His reign, while short (263 days), saw him confer on the bishop of Ostia the power to consecrate newly-elected popes (which power they may have already had). He also started to compile lists of early martyrs and bishops.

Mark also established a couple of churches in Rome, one of which still stands (the Basilica San Marco, which is where he was eventually buried, a good 800 years after his death in 336).