The longest Pontificate

If you hear a Roman say “every time a pope dies” it means that it is something that rarely happens.

In fact Rome also measures time by the frequency with which popes die and are elected because these two events are remembered perfectly by those who live in Rome.

To speak of modern times I remember very well where I was at the death of John Paul II or when Pope Francis was elected or the sudden death of Pope Luciani (John Paul I), one of the shortest pontificates in history: only thirty-three days.

However, the shortest pontificate in Church history was that of Pope Urban VII who lasted just twelve days due to a malarial fever that killed the newly elected pontiff in 1590.

And the longest lasted how long?
Pope Pius IX occupied St. Peter’s for 31 years and 8 months, from June 21, 1846 to February 7, 1878.

A Pope who represented the last Pope-King for Rome, because in 1870, at twenty-three o’clock, Italian regiments commanded by King Victor Emmanuel II entered the city, ending the Pope’s rule over Rome.

Pius IX withdrew to the Vatican refusing to recognize the new state and declaring himself a political prisoner and promulgated the famous “non expedit” which clearly prohibited the participation of clergy and Catholics in the political life of the new Italian state.
Until his death, the Pope continued to call himself “prisoner of the Italian State“.

The second longest pontificate in history also had an impact on a historical level and on international events.
John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope to play a decisive role in the political collapse of the Soviet Union.

During his more than 26 years in the Vatican, he also profoundly renewed the Catholic Church, managing to give a whole new meaning to the role of Pope.

In third place, with 25 and a half years, among the longest-lived popes we find Leo XIII, who had succeeded Pius IX and who found himself managing a Church that was at great risk of isolation, no longer having any influence on politics.

In fourth place is St. Peter, for whom, however, there are no certain dates: he would have been the first vicar of Christ from Pentecost of the year 30 until the year 67, but only the last 25 (from 42 onwards) would have lived in Rome, where he dictated to his faithful disciple Mark the Gospel.