As the cardinals gather at the Vatican to elect a new pope, here's the lowdown on the perks, pomp and powers of the pontiff
13 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About Being Pope
The pope can be a teenager
There’s no official age requirement for the post. The youngest pope to be elected in Vatican history was Pope John XII, who is believed to have been 18 years old when he ascended to the papacy in 955. Meanwhile, Pope Gregory XII was the oldest to be elected at 81 years old in 1406, with Pope Clement X having come close when elected in 1670 at the age of 79. As for Pope Francis, he was 76 years old when elected as pope in 2013.
The pope has to be multilingual
Latin is the language of the Catholic Church, and the pope must be fluent in order to conduct official business. (Day-to-day correspondences are conducted in modern languages.) As the pope is also the bishop of Rome, he is required to know Italian as well. Pope Francis read the Bible in multiple languages and was known to have been fluent in Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, German and English.
The pope goes to confession
He may be the Holy Father, but the pope is not exempt from confession. In fact, popes observe the sacrament far more frequently than the average Catholic (who, technically, is only required to go to confession when he or she has committed a mortal sin). Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI went to confession weekly, and Pope Francis is said to have gone every two weeks.
The pope is the head of his own country
In addition to presiding over 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, the pope is head of a sovereign city-state, Vatican City, which has a population of more than 700 people.
The pope has his own hospital
The Vatican has a Health Assistance Fund—employees must contribute 2% of their yearly salaries to be enrolled—and its own medical center, staffed by full-time physicians. Under the Vatican’s health plan, there is no co-pay for doctor’s visits, and the only additional charge is $.75 for prescriptions, lab tests, X-rays and ultrasounds. Even after retirement, popes retain the health benefits they had as pontiff.
The pope has no material possessions
As pope, the pontiff does not own anything, though he has custodianship of the Church’s fortune during his reign. Everything and anything the pope needs or wants is provided for him.
Popes of the past could be classified as the worst popes in history
Popes of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance left behind a shady legacy, to put it mildly. Exhibit A: Pope Benedict IX (r. 1032–1048) sold the papacy to his godfather. However, the title of Worst Pope Ever has to go to Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492–1503), pictured, who among many questionable practices, established new cardinal positions in exchange for money when Church funds ran low. His blatant abuses of the papacy are considered to be partly responsible for the Protestant Reformation.
The pope is one of the five most powerful people in the world
Before his passing, Pope Francis was No. 5 on the Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful People, just behind Jeff Bezos, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and the list’s No. 1 slot holder, Xi Jinping.
The pope has an X account
The official X account of the Holy See, @Pontifex, currently has more than 18 million followers. Pope Francis’s last tweet was on Easter Sunday, where he shared, “Christ is risen! These words capture the entire meaning of our existence, for we were not made for death but for life.”
The pope has budget problems too
Running the seat of the Catholic Church is expensive, but it’s shocking to know that the Vatican is facing a budget deficit. Recent figures have not been published, but in 2023, the figures indicated an $87 million shortfall. According to Our Sunday Visitor Catholic magazine, the Vatican is using contributions to the pope’s charitable works, Peter’s Pence, along with an investment income to cover the deficit.
The pope has a bank to worry about
The Institute for Religious Works (IOR), also known as the Vatican Bank, is a privately held institution within Vatican City responsible for financing the Church’s work around the world. The bank’s head, appointed by the pope, answers to a committee of cardinals and is ultimately accountable to the pope himself.
The pope’s death is declared in a very specific way
“There’s nothing so dead as a dead pope.” That old saying has its roots in an obscure papal tradition that required the Church ascertain a pope had really died by tapping him on the forehead with a silver hammer and calling out his baptismal name three times. Apparently, this practice was performed as recently as the death of Pope John XXIII (d. 1963) but was officially dropped when Pope John Paul II put forth a rule that covering the face with a towel would be the new decree of a pope’s passing.
The pope is infallible only sometimes
The concept of papal infallibility is widely misunderstood. The pope himself is not infallible; he is human, after all. He is only infallible when issuing decrees about faith and morals as the head of the Catholic Church.
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Sources:
- X: @Pontifex
- Forbes: “The World’s Most Powerful People”
- Our Sunday Visitor: “Vatican finances under reform: Pope Francis tackles deficit crisis”
- ABC News: “Popes through the ages: Some facts you might not know”
- CBS News: “Pope Francis’ death mourned worldwide as Catholic Church prepares for next chapter”
- National Catholic Reporter: “Pope, at audience, says he goes to confession every two weeks”
- NPR: “Who will be the next pope? Here’s how the conclave works”
- Britannica: “Clement X”
Originally Published in Reader's Digest
