With the death of Pope Francis and after the funeral ceremonies, 133 cardinals of the Catholic Church are now meeting to choose the next leader of the Vatican. Until the white smoke, the symbol of the papal election, arrives, we take this opportunity to remember the two Portuguese popes who made history.
Today, Portugal is officially a secular state. However, its ancient past is umbilically linked to the Catholic Church, to the extent that there have been two popes of Portuguese origin, one of whom was born before the country was founded.
Who were the Portuguese popes?
In the 4th century, before the creation of Portugal, Damasus I, born in what was then Civitas Igaeditanorum (now Idanha-a-Velha), was elected pope.
For 18 years (366-384), he led the direction of the Vatican and the Catholic Church, and was notable for promoting the translation of the Bible into Latin.
Elevated to sainthood, he is considered one of the pontiffs who helped institutionalize the Church as the benchmark of the late Roman Empire.
Centuries later, another Portuguese assumed the pontificate: Pedro Hispano (with the papal name of John XXI). Born in Lisbon to a noble family of doctors, he was elected Pope in the 13th century.
Although his pontificate was brief (around eight months), it was marked by his intention to mediate conflicts between European monarchies.
Mentioned in Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, the second of the Portuguese popes died tragically when a roof collapsed.
With this reference to the past, we take the opportunity to point out that there are four Portuguese cardinals in the 2025 Conclave, an unprecedented fact. As for the choice of Francis’ successor, we can only wait for the white smoke to clear!