Who Were the Popes with the Shortest Reigns?

by Gunther Simmermacher · May 8, 2023

Pope Urban VII, who reigned for only 13 days in September 1590.

Question: The recent beatification of Pope Bl John Paul I made me wonder whether his 33-day papacy in 1978 was one of the shortest in the Church’s history. How many popes reigned for a shorter period of time than he did?

Answer: Pope John Paul I’s reign was only the joint 9th-shortest in papal history. He shares the position with fellow 33-dayer Benedict V — pontiff from May 22 to June 23, 964 — but Bl John Paul I’s was the shortest pontificate since 1605. That year, Leo XI was pope for 27 days in April.

The shortest-ever papal reign was that of Urban VII, who steered the Barque of Peter for 13 days, from September 15–27, 1590. At a time when not all popes were of unimpeachable character, Pope Urban was a good man, known for his piety, intelligence, competence and charity.

A nobleman whose uncle was a cardinal, Giambattista Castagna was an accomplished diplomat. He might have been the nephew of a cardinal, but as pope he quickly forbade nepotism.

He also instituted the world’s first known public smoking ban, when he threatened to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church”, whether by smoking, chewing or sniffing it.

When he became pope, which also meant being the temporal ruler of the Papal States, Urban was planning to roll out a public works programme to create employment for the poor. After his death from malaria, he left his personal fortune to support poor girls.

The next-shortest reigns were: Celestine IV (15 days in 1241), Boniface VI (16 days in 896). Theodore II (20 days in 897), Sisinnius (21 days in 708), Marcellus II (22 days in 1555), Damasus II (24 days in 1048), and Pius III (27 days in 1503)

(Günther Simmermacher)

Asked and answered in the March 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine