For the last over 120 years, the men who wore the robes of papacy did not just lead the Catholic Church, they steered the world's oldest Christian body through some of the most turbulent waters in modern history.
Often seen as a bastion of tradition, the papacy might conjure images of timeless rituals and ancient walls, untouched by chaos of the world outside but in reality, being Pope in the modern age meant to constantly confront the world’s upheavals head-on guiding over a 1 billion faithful while responding to a whirlwind of global change.
From the ravages of pestilences, two World Wars to the slow unraveling of colonial empires, though to the Cold War’s iron grip to the cultural revolutions of the 60s and 70s, each pope has been a reflection of his time. Some standing firm in theological conservatism. Others turned boldly toward social justice, all leaving a mark.
They spoke out against dictatorship and defended human rights. They faced the shame of sex abuse scandals and called for environmental stewardship.
The period between 1900-1999 and 2000 till today saw revolution in different fields; the emergence of wonder drugs in medicine, the conger of space following the discovery of the aero plane, to political persuasions that wrecked society, economic wars and climate change.
Whether it was Benedict XV quietly calling for peace during World War I, John Paul II staring down communism, or Pope Francis urging action on climate change and inequality, each prelate at the helm has had to walk a fine line between preserving eternal truths and adapting to the urgent cries of the present.
Through it all, they’ve shown that even a 2,000-year-old institution can and must learn how to sail through storms.
Pope Leo XIII (1978- 1903)
Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi; Born March 2, 1810, at Carpineto he was the sixth of the seven sons of Count Lodovico Pecci and his wife Anna Prosperi-Buzi. Elected Pope 20 February, 1878. Under Leo the Catholic faith made great progress; two hundred and forty-eight episcopal or archiepiscopal sees were created, and forty-eight vicariates or prefectures Apostolic. He died on July 20, 1903, in Rome.
St Pius X (1903-14)
Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto was born in June 2, 1835, at Riese, Province of Treviso, in Venice. Pius X, prior to becoming Pope, demonstrated remarkable abnegation during a cholera epidemic in the early 1870s. As Pope he is remembered for his commitment to serving others and restoring all things in Christ.
Benedict XV- World War 1 Pope (1914-22)
Giacomo Della Chiesa, who would become Pope with the name Benedict XV, was born in Genoa on November 21, 1854, the third of four children, to the Marquis Giuseppe (belonging to a patrician family whose origins date back to the time of Saint Ambrose) and the Marchioness Giovanna Migliorati.
On May 25, 1914 he was elected Pope. But less than three months later, on August 20, following an attack of bronchopneumonia, Pius X died.
On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and, for its part, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1 and on August 3 on France. On August 4, German troops, in order to attack France, invaded neutral Belgium and on the same day Great Britain declares war on Germany. The first world war had just begun. He established a Vatican office with the goal of reuniting prisoners of war with their families and made efforts to encourage neutral Switzerland to accept combatants dealing with tuberculosis. Despite facing financial hardships, he devoted 82 million lire to humanitarian relief efforts.
Pius XI (1922-39)
Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti was born May 31, 1857, near Milan, son of a silk factory manager. He entered the seminary at the age of ten where his scholastic abilities were soon recognised. He worked as assistant librarian at the Vatican Library and his flair for languages, scholastic prowess and also his diplomatic potential saw him rise to a cardinal. In February 1922, shortly after being promoted to cardinal, Benedict XV passed away from pneumonia. A conclave was held that lasted four days and required 14 ballots, highlighting the importance of electing a Pope with strong diplomatic expertise. The main candidates were Cardinal Merry del Val and Cardinal Gasparri. Achille Ratti was chosen as a compromise, appealing to both conservative and progressive factions within the conclave. At the age of 64, he became Pope Pius XI and would lead the Church for the next 17 years.
Pius XII- World War II Pope (1939-58)
Eugenio Pacelli was born in Rome on March 2, 1876. At 23, he was ordained to priesthood and began his work in what would become a long career at the Vatican. Pacelli served as a clerk in the Secretariat of State, then as Nuncio to Germany.
Pope Pius XI raised him to the rank of cardinal in 1929. Ten years later, in a rapid conclave that lasted only a single day, Pacelli was elected Pope and took the name Pius XII. Just six months into his 19-year papacy, World War II erupted. Using his diplomatic expertise, he addressed the upheaval and released his first encyclical, “Summi Pontificatus,” which urged the faithful to pray for an end to the war. This was just the start of his efforts to promote peace during the global conflict.
After the war, however, the pontiff was sharply criticised for not having done more to aid Hitler’s victims and was seen by some as a “Pope of Silence”
St John XXIII (1958-63)
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who became Pope John XXIII, was a Catholic priest and diplomat who held the papacy from 1958 to 1963. He is celebrated for calling the Second Vatican Council, which sparked essential reforms in the Roman Catholic Church. He was beatified in 2000 and canonised or declared a saint, in 2014. Although his papacy lasted only four years, his impact on the Church was significant. The highlight of his leadership was the 1962 gathering of the Second Vatican Council, which led to important changes in Catholic liturgy, church governance, and relations with other faiths.
St. Paul VI (1963-78)
Giovanni Battista Montini was ordained a priest on May 29, 1920, and sent by his bishop to Rome for higher studies and was eventually recruited for the Vatican diplomatic service.
Montini was named the papal undersecretary of state in 1939, and by 1944, he was serving as the acting secretary for ordinary (nondiplomatic) affairs. He turned down an invitation to join the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1953. He was elected Pope on June 21, 1963, taking the name Paul VI.
The first miracle attributed to Paul VI, prior to his beatification, also involved an unborn child. A pregnant woman was advised to have an abortion because her child was disabled. Instead the woman prayed to Paul VI and her child was born completely healthy.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared that Paul had lived “a life of heroic virtue.” Two years later he was beatified by Benedict’s successor, Francis. He was canonised, declared a Saint by Pope Francis in October 2018.
John Paul I (1978)
Albino Luciani was born on October 17, 1912 in Canale d’Agordo, Italy, and was the first Pope born in the 20th century and the last to die in the 20th century. He was the first Pope to take a double name, in honour of his two most recent predecessors: Pope St John XXIII (who made him a bishop) and Pope St Paul VI (who made him a cardinal).
His tenure lasted a mere 33 days, the shortest reign in over 370 years with the last Pope to have such a brief pontificate was Leo XI, whose pontificate lasted 27 days in April 1605.
St John Paul II (1978-2005)
Karol Józef Wojtyła, was born in Wadowice, Poland, on 18 May 1920. He was the third of three children born to Karol Wojtyła and Emilia Kaczorowska, who died in 1929.
On 3 May 1981, an attempt was made on his life in Saint Peter's Square. Saved by the maternal hand of the Mother of God, following a lengthy stay in hospital, he forgave the attempted assassin and, aware of having received a great gift, intensified his pastoral commitments with heroic generosity.
No other Pope met as many people as Pope John Paul II, and he passed away on Saturday, April 2, 2005, in the Apostolic Palace, just before the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, a feast he had established. On May 1, 2011, he was beatified in Saint Peter's Square by Pope Benedict XVI, who had been his close collaborator as the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Later, on April 27, 2014, he was canonised alongside Pope John XXIII by Pope Francis.
Benedict XVI (2005-2013)
Joseph Ratzinger was born on 16 April 1927 in Marktl am Inn, Germany. His father, a police officer, came from a traditional family of farmers from Lower Bavaria. He spent his adolescent years in Traunstein, a small town on the Austrian border. Together with his brother Georg, he was ordained a priest on 29 June 1951 in the Cathedral at Freising.
On 25 March 1977, Pope Paul VI named him Archbishop of Munich and Freising and later a Cardinal with the priestly title of “Santa Maria Consolatrice al Tiburtino”, during the Consistory of 27 June 1977.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected on April 19, 2005 as the 265th Pope.
He was the oldest person elected Pope since 1730 and had the longest tenure as a Cardinal of any Pope since 1724. On February 11, 2013, during the Ordinary Public Consistory that focused on various Canonisation Causes, Benedict shared his decision to resign from the Petrine ministry. His papacy concluded on February 28, 2013. After his resignation, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI lived in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican until he died.
Francis (2013-2025)
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on December 17, 1936 in the Flores district of Buenos Aires, the eldest of five children in a middle class family of Italian immigrants. He became Pope upon abdication of Pope Benedict in 2013.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic posed challenges during his reign and in March 2020 he performed an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing; normally reserved for festivals such as Christmas and Easter in a dark and deserted St Peter’s Square as he prayed for the outbreak to end.
While Pope Francis kept open the possibility, and even had a resignation letter prepared, he said more recently that he believed the papacy was for life. During his reign, conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists.
