Popes From the 20th Century On Quiz

Pope Pius X followed Pope Leo XIII who served as pope from 1878 to his death in July, 1903. Pope Pius X was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto in June, 1835. He was from Italy where the overwhelming majority of popes had lived. In fact, you need to go back to the year 1522 to find a pope who was not from Italy when Pope Adrian VI (Hadrian VI) from the Netherlands held the position. Pius X became pope in August, 1903, and served in the role until his death in August, 1914. Pope Pius X was beatified in June, 1951, and canonized, or made a saint, in May, 1954.

In order to become a saint, two miracles were attributed to him. Both involved nuns being cured from cancer when they came in contact with statues of Pius X.

Pope Benedict XV was born born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa. He was 59 years old when he was elected to be pope by the College of Cardinals in September, 1914. He opposed WWI, and tried to use his influence during that war against it. At first, he tried to act as a peace negotiator.

When that failed, he worked to provide humanitarian aid to those who suffered from the effects of the war. During his time as pope, Benedict XV canonized four including Joan of Arc. At the age of only 67, Pope Benedict passed away from pneumonia in January, 1922.

Pope Pius XI was born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti in 1857. He served as pope for almost exactly seventeen years, from February 6, 1922 until February 10, 1939. After the previous pope, Benedict XV passed away, the College of Cardinals met to elect a new pope.

This conclave was the longest of the 20th century, having taken fourteen ballots to elect him pope. In 1929, Pius XI signed a treaty with Italy that created the Vatican, and resulted in him becoming the head of state of the smallest state in the world.

He died of a heart attack on February 1939, at the age of 81. He is buried in the Papal Grotto of Saint Peter's Basilica. While excavating his tomb, workers discovered a deeper layer of tombs and bones that are believed to be the bones of St. Peter, the first pope of the Catholic Church.

Pius XII was born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli in March, 1876 in Italy. He succeeded Pope Pius XI in March, 1939 just as WWII began. He chose the papal name Pius to honour his predecessor, and because the name had been used exclusively by Italian popes up to that point. He was quite worried when the war broke out, and repeated the maxim of of Pope Benedict XV that the Vatican would remain neutral. At the outbreak of the war in 1939, he created an information office to support queries about missing persons and refugees. The office remained open until 1947 and received 9,891,497 information requests that resulted in 11,293,511 answers about missing persons.

Pius XII became ill with an unspecified illness in 1954. He was given questionable treatments and began experiencing hallucinations and very bad nightmares. In October, 1958, his symptoms became worse. He died after experiencing two strokes and developing pneumonia. After his death, Pope Paul VI opened the cause for canonization for Pope Pius XII. It was recommended that he be declared Venerable in 2007. Pope Benedict XVI did so in 2007. In 2014, Pope Francis stated that Pius XII would not become a saint because the investigation had stalled.

Pope John XXIII was an Italian pope born Giuseppe Angelo Roncalli. He was elected to serve as pope in October, 1958. He spent time during his papacy attempting to modernize the church. Up until he became pope, there were only 70 cardinals in the Catholic Church. He increased that number to 85, so he was able to appoint the first cardinals from Japan, the Philippines, and Africa. He was declared a servant of God by Pope Paul VI (his successor). He was then declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2013. He was canonized with Pope John Paul II the following year. He became "Time" magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1962 after he offered to mediate between Kennedy and Krushchev during the Cuban Missile crisis. Pope John XXIII contracted stomach cancer and died of the disease in June, 1963.

In 2000, he was beatified after one miracle that is attributed to him was found. Then, in 2013, Pope Francis approved John XXIII for canonization by waiving the requirement of a second miracle. This is something that current popes are able to do in some cases.

Pope Paul VI was born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini in September, 1897. Pope Paul VI was responsible for a number of reforms within the church. He established the Synod of Bishops, an advisory body for the pope. He also set age limits on bishops and cardinals, and for voting in papal elections.

He also created two bodies in the church, one meant to increase the dialogue between religions, and one meant to increase the dialogue with non-believers. He was the first pope to travel to six continents.

In fact, it was on one of these trips when he experienced an assassination attempt in the Philippines. Despite failing health, he went to the papal summer residence in 1978. There, he suffered a heart attack and died in August, 1978. Pope Paul was canonized in 2018 after a number of miracles were attributed to him.

Pope John Paul I was not the shortest-serving pope in the history of the Catholic Church (to the end of the 20th century). That distinction goes to Pope Urban VII who was head of the Catholic Church from September 15-27, 1590, a total of twelve days. He was, however, the shortest-serving pope of the twentieth century.

He became pope on August 26, 1978, and passed away a month and two days later on September 28, 1978. His short term resulted in what is known as a "year of three popes". Pope John Paul I was born Albino Luciani in October, 1912.

He was the first pope to be born in the twentieth century. After his death, he was declared "Venerable" by Pope Francis. He will be beatified in 2022 because one miracle has been attributed to him. This opens the door for future canonization if a second miracle can be found that is attributed to him.

Pope John Paul II was elected to the position in October, 1978. Born Karol Józef Wojtyła in Poland, he was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI from the Netherlands who served from 1522-1523. Pope John Paul II was widely travelled. He visited 129 countries during his tenure. He also canonized many saints during his time as pope. In fact, he beatified 1,340 individuals and canonized 483 saints. This is more than the total of all popes during the preceding 500 years.

Pope John Paul II was named "Time" magazine's "Person of the Year" in 1994. He became the longest-serving pope who began in the twentieth century. There were a number of assassination attempts on Pope John Paul II. The most famous is when he was shot in St. Peter's Square in 1981. He was severely wounded, but survived after emergency surgery. He passed away on April 2, 2005 from septic shock, a severe form of infection.

Very soon after his death, Pope Benedict XVI bypassed the typical five-year waiting period to begin the beatification and canonization process for John Paul II. He was beatified in May, 2011 after one miracle was attributed to him. Then, after a second miracle was attributed to him, he was canonized in April 2014. He was canonized the same day as Pope John XXIII.

Pope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in April, 1927. He was elected pope in April, 2005. He served less than eight years as pope before he announced his retirement he left the papacy in February, 2013. Once he retired, he asked to be known as "pope emeritus". Before he was elected pope, Benedict XVI had submitted his resignation three times when he was a bishop. He wished to retire in order to pursue scholarly activities. However, Pope John Paul II asked that he continue to work, so he did. He was an older pope when elected, but he still accepted the post.

He suffered from a few relatively minor health issues during his tenure as pope, but then he decided to resign from the position in February, 2013. Pope Benedict said that this was due to "deteriorating strength and the physical and mental demands of the papacy". Upon his retirement, a monastery on the grounds of the Vatican was refurbished for him to live in during his retirement years.

Pope Francis I was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina. Some documents simply list him as "Pope Francis" since there hadn't been a pope with that name before he was elected. His election as pope created a number of firsts. He was the first pope from outside Europe since the 8th century, the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere, the first pope from the Americas, and the first Jesuit to be elected pope.

He chose the papal name "Francis" in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Pope Francis was named "Time" magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2013.

The honour was, in part, given for Pope Francis' modern approach to the church. In at least one interview, he has suggested that the Catholic Church must move away from teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, and become more merciful.