by Anura Guruge
on December 5, 2021
A few days ago, in my post about Pope Francis turning 85 & thus becoming the 7th oldest pope (as of 1400), I mentioned in passing that he has had ‘quite a good innings‘ (as we say in cricket) as to how long he has reigned. I knew that I would have to elaborate on this sooner than later. And yes someone raised this topic at once.
So, I went & did the sums.
96 popes (based on data we have/use) have reigned for longer; 170 for shorter.
The average length is 7.2 years. So, he has easily exceeded that.
In March 13, 2022, he would have been pope for 9 years. At that point he will go up by 4 in the rankings to #93 (or #92). Then he will start to climb up quite quickly. By the Summer of 2022 he will be around the #88 mark.
I will keep you posted. Easy enough to do. Just a question of making time.
this is a total aside, but the traditional “You will not exceed [the 25] years” of Peter’s “pontificate” depends exactly what it means to be pope.
Myself, given his unique status, I count the beginning of Peter’s rule as starting, not from his first appearance in Rome, but from his commission by Christ as mentioned in the Gospels. That event is what put him in the proverbial driver’s seat. So instead of a c. 42 to c. 67 dates, I count it as c. 30/32/33 to c. 64 or 67. Probably total of c. 34 years. So that still keep his “pontificate” longer than that of Bl. Pius IX’s 31½ years… 🙂