A look at papal terms since 32AD

THE post of Bishop of Rome is considered to be a life-long commitment. And with only a handful of exceptions, it has been. Nearly all 266 popes have served until their death. But that does not mean that they were in the job for long. Rather, as our charts below show, popes tend to have a short shelf-life. Over half of all papal terms have lasted between two weeks and five years. Part of this is the result of age: the average age at time of election between 1500 and 2005 was 64. Pope Benedict XVI, who announced his resignation on February 11th, was, at 78, one of the oldest to be elected. His seven-and-a-half years put him in good company: 62 others served between six and ten years. The shortest-serving pope was Urban VII, who survived just 13 days in office in September 1590. Pius IX was the longest-serving elected pope, holding on for 32 years. Popes who left their stamp on the office include Innocent III, who served for 18 years from 1198, and launched Christianity’s fourth Crusade; and Leo XIII, who used his quarter of a century from 1878 to grapple with how the church should respond to industrialisation and trade unions.