Holy Secrets: 50 More Facts About Popes – Part 2

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26 John Paul II Forgave Shooter

After surviving an assassination attempt in 1981—when Mehmet Ali Ağca shot him four times—Pope John Paul II publicly forgave his attacker. At the Pope’s request, Italy’s president later pardoned Agca, who was then deported to Turkey. In 2014, Agca requested a meeting with Pope Francis, but Francis chose not to grant the visit.

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27. Following the 1870 annexation of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy and the dissolution of the Papal States, Pope Pius IX refused to recognize the new Italian regime. He declared himself a “prisoner in the Vatican,” a symbolic standoff that lasted until the Lateran Treaty of 1929, which officially established Vatican City as a sovereign nation.

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28. In 2014, Pope Francis sparked headlines by declaring he would baptize extraterrestrials if they asked-“even green Martians with long noses and big ears.” He emphasized that the Church should never close its doors to anyone seeking God. Similarly, in 2010, Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno said he would gladly baptize an alien, noting, “Any entity-no matter how many tentacles it has-has a soul.”

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29. When Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyla of Poland became Pope John Paul II in 1978, it was a historic shift: he became the first non-Italian pope since Dutchman Adrian VI, who served in 1523.

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30. The tradition of popes choosing a papal name began in the 6th century with Pope John II. Born Mercurius, he believed it was inappropriate for a Christian leader to bear the name of a Roman god, so he adopted a new name upon ascending to the papacy-setting a precedent followed ever since.

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31 Clement VII Backed Copernicus Early

In 1533, Pope Clement VII personally approved Nicolaus Copernicus’s heliocentric theory-that the Earth revolves around the Sun-nearly a century before Galileo Galilei was tried for heresy over similar ideas in 1632.

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32. The Pope is the head of two distinct sovereign entities: Vatican City, a physical city-state established in 1929, and the Holy See, a legal and diplomatic entity that functions as the central governing body of the global Catholic Church.

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33. The Avignon Papacy was a period from 1309 to 1376 when seven consecutive French popes relocated the papal court from Rome to Avignon, France-deeply affecting church politics and authority across Europe.

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34. During the Sack of Rome in 1527, over 20,000 mutinous troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V invaded the city. Pope Clement VII fled to safety as 142 members of the Swiss Guard heroically defended the Vatican in a last stand. None survived.

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35. Although there have only been 21 popes named John, the latest bore the title John XXIII. Medieval clerical errors mistakenly included Antipope John XVI in the count and entirely skipped over John XX, creating a numerical inconsistency.

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36 Moon Landing Viewed by Pope

On the night of July 20-21, 1969, as Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, Pope Paul VI watched the event through a telescope at the Vatican Observatory. He later praised the mission as a monumental achievement in human history.

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37. When a pope dies, tradition dictates that his death be confirmed by gently tapping his head three times with a silver hammer while calling out his birth name. This ceremonial act marks the official end of his papacy.

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38. In 1962, elephant bones were discovered beneath Vatican grounds. Decades later, they were identified as remains of Hanno, the pet elephant of Pope Leo X, who died in 1516 after doctors attempted to treat his constipation with a gold enema.

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39. In 590 A.D., during a devastating famine and refugee crisis in Rome, Pope Gregory I transformed the Church into a relief organization. He distributed alms from church-owned farmland and personally cooked meals for the hungry.

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40. In 1965, under Pope Paul VI, the Roman Catholic Church issued Nostra Aetate, a landmark declaration that rejected the long-held doctrine of “Jewish deicide”-the belief that all Jews, past and present, bear collective guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus.

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41 Cocaine Wine Endorsed by Pope

Vin Mariani, a cocaine-infused wine popular in the late 1800s, was favored by two popes. Pope Leo XIII enjoyed it so much that he appeared in advertisements for the product, and its creator was awarded a Vatican gold medal.

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42. The Pope can appoint “secret cardinals,” known as in pectore cardinals. Their identities may be withheld from the public-and even from the appointee himself. If the pope dies without revealing the name, the cardinal loses their title automatically.

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43. During the 1348 outbreak of bubonic plague in France, cemeteries filled so quickly that Pope Clement VI had to consecrate the entire Rhone River, allowing bodies to be legally dumped in it to manage the overwhelming number of plague victims.

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44. Pope Francis was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. In a 2008 sermon, he referenced Bilbo and Frodo’s adventures as metaphors for journeys of hope and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

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45. The term “nepotism” comes from papal tradition. For centuries, popes often appointed their nephews as cardinals-a strategy to maintain influence within the Church hierarchy and ensure loyalty among the College of Cardinals.

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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History

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46 Theology of the Body Revolution

Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body is a collection of 129 lectures delivered between 1979 and 1984. It reshaped Catholic views on human sexuality, celibacy, marriage, and gender, and influenced modern evangelical teachings on the body.

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47. Until 1870, Rome’s Jews were forced to attend mandatory weekly sermons outside the Church of San Gregorio. Despite the enforced attendance, many Jews reportedly plugged their ears with wax to avoid hearing the sermons.

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48. In the early 14th century, King Ludwig IV of Bavaria became Holy Roman Emperor. After repeated clashes with the Pope over imperial authority, he was officially excommunicated. In defiance, Ludwig attempted to install his own “antipope,” but the plan failed-further deepening the divide between the empire and the Catholic Church.

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49. Knighthood from the Pope includes rare privileges. Recipients of the five papal orders of knighthood gain the ceremonial right to ride on horseback inside Saint Peter’s Basilica-a gesture of immense honor.

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50. The Vatican’s modern real estate empire was partly funded by money received from Mussolini in 1929. In exchange for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime, the Vatican received a large cash payment, which it invested into property holdings worldwide.

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