Bergoglio’s age has reached the highest of the popes in history: Francis turns 85 on December 17, but Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI “competes with him”
Pope Francis reaches the milestone of 85 years on Friday 17 December and is among the ten longest-lived popes in history. When he saw the light his Argentina was living in the middle of Decade Infamous, dark period of military dictatorships, corruption, exclusion of democratic parties from the government and suppression of trade union freedoms.
On closer inspection, many of those memories left their mark on his subsequent pastoral line. An existence that embraces at least four phases of world history (authoritarianisms of the 1930s, World War II, Cold War and the one that followed the Cold War and to which no one has yet given a definitive name).
He did not see the Spanish, the Holy Father, but Covid did a world figure even more than it was before. The central episode, however, appears to be the Vatican Council II, who nevertheless saw him far away, a recent graduate in philosophy and a teacher in the Santa Fe boarding schools. Today that inheritance and its difficult absorption are behind so many of the problems facing his pontificate: the Church has its own times.
Francesco, even now, personifies the idea of a fresh and snappy Church, “outgoing” as he puts it; vice versa the registry makes it one of the less young popes. The statistics, it is true, are vitiated by the fact that especially in the first centuries of the life of the Church it was not very common to keep a precise account of the pontifical springs.
Longest-lived popes in history, Leo XIII in first place
But since there are more certain data, the accounts can be done, and in any case over a considerable period also for the times of the Church. It is calculated about a millennium, which makes the data reliable, and in addition it must be considered (as can be seen from the statistics) that the average life of the popes, just like that of their flocks, has grown significantly over the last couple of centuries. Therefore, the ranking drawn up by the specialists follows.
The oldest Pope in history is Leo XIII, born on 2 March 1810, risen to the Soglio on 20 February 1878 and died on 20 July 1903: 93 years old. In second place Clement XII, born on 7 April 1652, became pope on 12 July 1730 and died on 6 February 1740, almost 88 years old. Third Clement X, born on 12 July 1590, elected on 29 April 1670 and died on 22 July 1676, ten days after completing 86 years old.
Ratzinger, age, resignation and … the “Benedict XVI case”
But at this point deciding on an order becomes complicated: there is the case of Benedict XVI. Pope Ratzinger was born on April 16, 1927, was elected on April 19, 2005 and remained in office until February 28, 2013, when he had therefore 85 years and ten months. If we want to calculate the period from Pope emeritus, then he surpassed Leo XIII himself having crossed the 94-year milestone for almost eight months.
In any case Ratzinger has surpassed Pius IX Mastai Ferretti, the last Pope King. Born on May 13, 1792, who became Successor of Peter on June 16, 1846, he died on February 7, 1878, three months before he was 86 years old. It follows Innocent XII, born on 13 May 1615, became successor of St. Peter on 22 July 1691 and died on 27 September 1700, at the age of 85 and little more. After him, now, he places himself Bergoglio: has overtaken Woytjla himself.
John Paul II in fact he was born on May 18, 1920, became Pope on October 16, 1978 and disappeared on April 2, 2005, without reaching the age of 85. It should be noted that there are three popes who could question the general count, but theirs date of birth is uncertain and therefore they are to be ignored: Clement III (from 1191 to 1198), John XXII (from 1316 to 1334) e Gregory XII (from 1406 to 1415). But in the history of the Church these are details.
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