One of the things the news folks mentioned is that Cardinal Ratz, now Bennie 16, is the first German pope since the 11th Century. So I got to wondering how many different ethnicities have been pope.

Obviously, Romans. But does Peter, papa numero uno, count as Roman or ethnic Jewish or Judaean? And then popes like Dionysius are Roman, but born in Greece (they think). Pope Miltiades was supposedly born in Africa, but that could make him a lot of different backgrounds. Lots of folks claim Gelasius 1 as African, as in black, but he also considered himself Roman. Pelagius 2 might have been a Goth, even though he was born in Rome.

So let’s just pass over (roughly) the first 1000 years of Popes. Because for that time period, we’re pretty much talking Romans citizens, shading into being Italians.

According to Wikipedia, we’re basically talking about just a few nationalities:

Italian, obviously.

Dutch (1)
Adrian 6 (b. Adrian Florisz Boeyens), 1459-1523 (After him, all Italians until JP Dos in 1978.)

German (6)
Gregory 5 (b. Bruno), 996–999
Clement 2 (b. Suidger of Morsleben), 1046–1047
Damasus 2 (b. Poppo), 1048. (Poppo el Papa!)
Leo 9 (b. Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg), 1049–1054
Victor 2 (b. Gebhard, Count of Calw, Tollenstein and Hirschnerg), 1055–1057
Benedict 16 (b. Ratzo Rizzo), 2005 -

French (16)
(Obviously, the Avignon Papacy is why this number is so high.)
Silvester 2 (b. Gerbert of Aurillac), 999–1003
Stephen 10, (b. Frederick of Lorraine), 1057–1058 (Also counts as German, but I’m part French, so I’ll put him here.)
Nicholas 2 (b. Gerard of Burgundy), 1058–1061
Urban 2 (b. Otho of Lagery), 1088–1099 (Starts the First Crusade)
Callixtus 2 (b. Guido of Vienne), 1119–1124
Urban 4 (b. Jacques Pantaléon), 1261–1264
Clement 4 (b. Guy Foulques or Guido le Gros), 1265–1268
Innocent 5 (b. Pierre de Tarentaise), 1276
Martin 4 (b. Simon de Brion), 1281–1285
(Avignon Begins)
Clement 5 (b. Bertrand de Gouth), 1305–1314
John 22 (b. Jacques d'Euse), 1316–1334
Benedict 12 (b. Jacques Fournier), 1334-1342. (Another exmaple of a sort-of Inquisition leaqder, who went a long way to stamping out the Cathars.)
Clement 6 (b. Pierre Roger), 1342–1352
Innocent 6 (b. Stephen Aubert), 1352–1362
Urban 5 (b. Guillaume de Grimoald), 1362–1370
Gregory 11 (Pierre Roger de Beaufort), 1370–1378
(Moves the Papacy back to Rome, where Italians riot to get an Italian elected again. Cheaters.)

Portugese (1)
John 21 (b. Petrus Juliani), 1276–1277

Spanish (2)
Callixtus 3 (b. Alphonso de Borgia), 1455–1458
Alexander 6 (b. Rodrigo Borgia), 1492–1503 (May be the most corrupt Pope ever!)

Really, though, does anyone think of Rodrigo Borgia as Spanish?

Polish (1)
JP Dos, 1978-2005

English (1)
Adrian 4 (b. Nicholas Breakspear) 1154 to 1159
Pope Joan (the myth) was also supposedly English

Here's a quick list of the “African” popes. North African, unclear about their skin color

Victor 1, 189-199
Miltiades, 310/ 311-314)
Gelasius 1, 492 to 496