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January 8

January 8

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events

- 871 - Battle of Ashdown - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion army.
- 1198 - Innocent III becomes Pope.
- 1297 - Monaco gains its independence.
- 1499 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany
- 1734 - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 - Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 - George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address address in New York City.
- 1806 - Cape Colony becomes a British colony.
- 1811 - Unsuccessful slave revolt led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 - War of 1812: In the Battle of New Orleans Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
- 1856 - Borax is discovered (John Veatch).
- 1863 - Battle of Springfield of the American Civil War is fought.
- 1867 - African American men granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.
- 1877 - Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry (Montana).
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1894 - A fire at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois causes a good deal of damage.
- 1900 - United States President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.
- 1906 - A landslide in Haverstraw, New York kills 20 due to the excavation of clay along the Hudson River.
- 1908 - A train collision occurs in the Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City killing 17, injuring 38 and leading to increased demand for electric trains.
- 1912 - The African National Congress was founded.
- 1916 - World War I: Allied forces withdraw from Gallipoli.
- 1918 - President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
- 1926 - African National Congress founded.
- 1935 - A.C. Hardy patents the spectrophotometer.
- 1953 - René Mayer becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1958 - 14 year old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.
- 1959 - conquest of Cuba by Fidel Castro is completed with the conquest of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1959 - Michel Debré becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time (National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.)
- 1962 - Harmelen train disaster.
- 1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1966 - Operation Crimp of the Vietnam War.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 - Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States who did not succeed her husband.
- 1977 - Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1982 - AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1986 - Hacker Manifesto written.
- 1987 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 -- The Dow's first close above 2,000.
- 1989 - Kegworth Air Disaster
- 1989 - beginning of Japanese Heisei era
- 1992 - President of the United States George H. W. Bush becomes ill on a visit to Japan and vomits on the Japanese Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa.
- 1994 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He will stay on the space station till March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 - An Antonov 32 cargo jet crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350.
- 1997 - "Mister Rogers" receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Births

- 1556 - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)
- 1583 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)
- 1601 - Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)
- 1628 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 - Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 - Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop of Toledo (d. 1709)
- 1735 - John Carroll, first American Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)
- 1763 - Edmond Charles Genêt, French ambassador to the United States (d. 1834)
- 1786 - Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States (d. 1844)
- 1792 - Lowell Mason American composer (d. 1872)
- 1805 - John Bigler, Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 - Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)
- 1817 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)
- 1821 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)
- 1821 - W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general

January 8

January 8 is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 357 days remaining (358 in leap years).

Events

Births

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

871

Events

- Nine battles are fought between the Danes and Wessex. Of two of them the place and date are not recorded, the others were:
- Englefield (31 December 870)
- Reading (4 January)
- Ashdown (8 January)
- Basing (22 January)
- Merton (22 March)
- Wilton (May)
- Alfred the Great succeeds as king of Wessex after Ethelred's death.
- Reading, England occupied by the Norse.
- After the battle at Wilton, peace is made, with the Danes and Alfred each governing part of England.
- Rhodri Mawr ('the Great') of Gwynedd inherits Seisyllwig, thus uniting most of Wales under his rule
- Louis II captures Ban, the headquarters of the Saracens.
- Alfred makes Winchester to his capital.
- An incomplete marriage contract, dated to October 6 of this year, is the earliest dated document in the Cairo Geniza.
- Foundation of Tønsberg, the oldest surviving town in Norway
- Svatopluk becomes prince of Great Moravia

Births

Deaths

- April 23 - King Ethelred of Wessex (killed in battle) Category:871 ko:871년

Ethelred of Wessex

Life

King Ethelred I or Æþelræd I (c. 837 – April 23, 871) was a son of Ethelwulf of Wessex. He succeeded his brother, Ethelbert of Wessex, as King of Wessex in about 865. He had two sons, Aethelwald being the elder and Aethelhelm being the younger. Ethelred I was not able to control the increasing Danish raids which devastated England. On January 4, 871 at the Battle of Reading Ethelred defeated a Danish invasion army. However, he was killed at the Battle of Merton on April 23, 871 and is buried at Wimborne in Dorset. Following his death, he was popularly regarded as a saint, but never canonised. He was succeeded by his brother, King Alfred the Great.

Children

His son Æthelwald rebelled against Alfred's son King Edward the Elder, and was killed in 904. Another son, Æthelhelm, may have become Bishop of Wells in 909 and Archbishop of Canterbury in 914. (follow these links and reference below for conflicting accounts)

External link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A292484 Category:830s births Category:871 deaths Category:West Saxon monarchs

1198

Events

- End of the reign of Emperor Go-Toba, emperor of Japan
- Emperor Tsuchimikado ascends to the throne of Japan
- January 8 - Pope Innocent III ascends Papal Throne
- Frederick II, infant son of German King Henry VI, crowned King of Sicily

Births

- August 24 - King Alexander II of Scotland (died 1249)
- Ertugrul, Turkish leader, father of Osman I
- Ferdinand III of Castile (died 1252)
- Sybilla of Lusignan, wife of Leo II of Armenia

Deaths

- January 8 - Pope Celestine III
- March 11 - Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France (born 1145)
- April 16 - Duke Frederick I of Austria
- November 27 - Queen Constance of Sicily, wife of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1154)
- December 10 - Averroes, Arab philosopher and physician (born 1126)
- Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair, High King of Ireland
- Alix of France, daughter of Louis VII of France (born 1150)
- William III of Sicily (born 1190)
- William of Newburgh, English historian (born 1135) Category:1198 ko:1198년

Pope Innocent III

Innocent III, né Lotario de' Conti (Gavignano, near Anagni, ca. 1161 – Perugia, June 16, 1216), was Pope from January 8, 1198 until his death. He was the son of Count Trasimund of Segni and nephew of Pope Clement III. His father was a member of the famous house of Conti, which has produced nine popes, including Gregory IX, Alexander IV and Innocent XIII. His mother, Claricia, belonged to the noble Roman family of Scotti. He was educated in Rome, Paris (under Peter of Corbeil), and Bologna (under Huguccio); he was considered an intellectual and one of the greatest canon lawyers of his time. After the death of Pope Alexander III, he returned to Rome and held office during the short reigns of Lucius III, Urban III, Gregory VIII, and Clement III, reaching the rank of Cardinal Deacon in 1190. During the reign of Pope Celestine III (1191–1198), a member of the House of Orsini, enemies of the counts of Segni, he left Rome to live in Anagni. Celestine III died in 1198. On the day he was buried, de' Conti was elected pope and took the name of Innocent III, at only thirty-seven years of age. The Imperial throne had become vacant by the death of Henry VI in 1197, and no successor had as yet been elected. Innocent took advantage of this vacuum to lessen German influence in Italy—his first act was the restoration of the papal power in Rome. The Prefect of Rome, who reigned over the city as the emperor's representative, swore allegiance to Innocent. He demanded the restoration of the Romagna and the March of Ancona to the Church from Markwald of Anweiler, and used papal troops to bring this about. In a similar way, the Duchies of Spoleto, Assisi and Sora were taken from the German Conrad von Uerslingen. The pope made use of the weakness of Frederick II (who was four years old) to reassert papal power in Sicily, and acknowledged Frederick II as king only after the surrender of the privileges of the Four Chapters, which William I of Sicily had previously extorted from Pope Adrian IV. The pope then invested Frederick II as King of Sicily in November, 1198. He also induced the young king to marry the widow of King Emeric of Hungary in 1209. After the death of the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI in 1197, the Ghibellines and the Guelfs had elected different emperors—Philip of Swabia (of the Hohenstaufen family) and Otto of Brunswick (of the Welf family). In 1201 the pope openly supported Otto IV, announcing that Otto had been approved as Roman king and threatened with excommunication all those who refused to acknowledge him. Innocent III made clear to the German princes by the Decree Venerabilem in May, 1202, how he considered the relationship between the Empire and the Papacy (this decree was afterwards embodied in the Corpus Juris Canonici). The chief points of the decree were: the right to decide whether a king is worthy of the imperial crown belongs to the pope; in case of a double election the electors must ask the pope to arbitrate or pronounce in favour of one of the claimants. electorInnocent changed his mind and declared in favour of Philip in 1207, and sent cardinals to Germany to induce Otto to renounce his claims to the throne. Otto murdered Philip on June 21, 1208 and at the Diet of Frankfurt of November 11, 1208, Otto was acknowledged as king and the pope invited him to Rome to receive the imperial crown. He was crowned emperor in Rome, October 4, 1209. Before his coronation Otto promised to leave the Church in possession of Spoleto and Ancona and to grant the freedom of ecclesiastical elections, unlimited right of appeal to the pope and the exclusive competency of the hierarchy in spiritual matters; he also promised to assist in the destruction of heresy (the stipulation of Neuss, repeated at Speyer, 1209). But soon after he had been crowned, Otto seized Ancona, Spoleto and other property of the Church, giving it to some of his vassals. He also invaded the Kingdom of Sicily. Otto was excommunicated on November 18, 1210. The pope managed to get most of the princes to renounce the excommunicated emperor and elect in his place Frederick II of Sicily, at the Diet of Nuremberg in September, 1211. Frederick made the same promises as Otto IV and his election was ratified by Innocent and he was crowned at Aachen on July 12, 1215. Otto allied with England (he was nephew of King John 'Lackland' of England) to fight Philip Augustus of France, but he was defeated in the Battle of Bouvines in what is now Belgium, July 27, 1214. Then he lost all influence (and died on May 19, 1218), leaving Frederick II, the undisputed emperor. Innocent played a further role in the politics of France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Spain and especially England. Innocent was a strenuous opponent of heresy. He had the Papal States cleared of the Manichean heretics, and under the leadership of Simon de Montfort a campaign was started against the Albigenses. The Church also took on the role of organising the Crusades. They were to be launched against heretics at the direction of the Pontiff and were to be used to impose the rule of the Church on the unbeliever. This was a prelude to the legitimisation of the Inquisition in 1233. Heresy was to be punished for the spiritual good of the individual as well as for the preservation of the Church. Innocent called for the Fourth Crusade in 1198, directing the call towards the knights and nobles of Europe, rather than the kings (he preferred that neither Richard I of England and Philip II of France, who were still engaged in war, nor his German enemies, participate). This call was generally ignored until 1200, when a crusade was finally organized in Champagne, which the Venetians re-directed into the sacking of Zara in 1202 and Constantinople in 1204. Innocent excommunicated the Venetians in return, and although he was not pleased with the means by which it was done, he accepted the end result of the temporary reunification of the Catholic and Orthodox churches after the Great Schism of 1054. He also summoned the Fourth Lateran Council (12th ecumenical council), in November, 1215. It decided on a general crusade to the Holy Land (the Fifth Crusade), as well as issuing seventy reformatory decrees. Innocent died at Perugia. He was buried in the cathedral of Perugia where his body remained until Pope Leo XIII had it transferred to the Lateran in December, 1891. See also: list of popes named Innocent Category:Crusades Innocent 03 Innocent 03 Innocent 03 ko:교황 인노첸시오 3세 ja:インノケンティウス3世 (ローマ教皇)

Pope

:This entry is about the Catholic Pontiff. For other uses of the word, see Pope (disambiguation). The pope is the Patriarch of the West and Bishop of Rome, and leader of the Catholic Church. The office of the pope is called the Papacy; his ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the Holy See (Sancta Sedes). Early bishops of Rome were designated vicar (representative) of Peter; for later popes the more authoritative vicar of Christ was substituted; this designation was first used by the Roman Synod of AD 495 to refer to Pope Gelasius I, an originator of papal supremacy among the patriarchs. The first Patriarch of Rome to bear the title of "Pope" was Pope Boniface III in 607, the first Bishop of Rome to assume the title of "universal Bishop" by decree of Emperor Phocas. Previous Patriarchs of Rome are called "Popes" by courtesy. In addition to his service in this spiritual role, the pope is also head of state of the independent sovereign State of the Vatican City, a city-state and nation entirely enclaved by the city of Rome. Prior to 1870, the pope's temporal authority extended over a large area of central Italy, the territory of the Papal States that was formally known as the "Patrimony of St Peter". Although the document on which the territorial powers of the Pontificate was based — the so-called Donation of Constantine — was proved a forgery in the 15th century, the papacy retained sovereign authority over the Papal States until the Italian Unification of 1870; a final political settlement with the Italian government was not reached until the Lateran Treaties of 1929. The current pope is Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger), who was elected at the age of 78 on 19 April 2005. He succeeds the late John Paul II, who was elected at the age of 58 in 1978. Pope Benedict XVI is the second non-Italian to be elected to the pontificate since Adrian VI, who was pope briefly in 1522-23 — John Paul II was the first — and is the first German to take the seat since the eleventh century (unless Adrian VI, who lived in Holland but came from German ancestors before Holland was separated from Germany, is counted as German rather than Dutch).

Office and nature

In canon law, the Catholic Pope is referred to as the Roman Pontiff (Pontifex Romanus). He is styled "Your Holiness" (Sanctitas Vestra) and is frequently referred to as the Holy Father. The title "Pope" is an informal one meaning "papa"; the formal title of the pope is "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servant of the Servants of God". This full title is rarely used. The pope's signature is usually in the format "NN. PP. x" (e.g., Pope Paul VI signed his name as "Paulus PP. VI"), the "PP." standing for Papa ("Pope") (or, according to unofficial sources, Pater Patrum, "Father of Fathers"), and his name is frequently accompanied in inscriptions by the abbreviation "Pont. Max." or "P.M." (abbreviation of the ancient title Pontifex Maximus, literally "Greatest Bridge-maker", but usually translated "Supreme Pontiff"). The signature of Papal bulls is customarily NN. Episcopus Ecclesia Catholicae ("NN. Bishop of the Catholic Church"), while the heading is NN. Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei ("NN. Bishop and Servant of the Servants of God"), the latter title dating to the time of Pope Gregory I the Great. Other titles used in some official capacity include Summus Pontifex ("Highest Pontiff"), Sanctissimus Pater and Beatissimus Pater ("Most Holy Father" and "Most Blessed Father"), Sanctissimus Dominus Noster ("Our Most Holy Lord"), and, in the Medieval period, Dominus Apostolicus ("Apostolic Lord"). This title, however, was not abandoned altogether: the pope is still refered to as "Dominum Apostolicum" in the Latin version of the Litany of the Saints, a solemn Catholic prayer, and in some translations of it. Medieval period]] The pope's official seat is the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, and his official residence is the Palace of the Vatican. He also possesses a summer palace at Castel Gandolfo (situated on the site of the ancient city-state Alba Longa). Historically the official residence of the pope was the Lateran Palace, donated by the Roman Emperor Constantinus I. The former Papal summer palace, the Quirinal Palace, has subsequently been the official residence of the Kings of Italy and President of the Italian Republic. It is the pope's ecclesiastical jurisdiction (the Holy See) and not his secular jurisdiction (Vatican City) which conducts international relations; for hundreds of years, the pope's court (the Roman Curia) has functioned as the government of the Catholic Church. The name "Holy See" (also "Apostolic See") is in ecclesiastical terminology the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome (including the Roman Curia); the pope's various honours, powers, and privileges within the Catholic Church and the international community derive from his Episcopate of Rome in lineal succession from the Apostle St. Peter (see Apostolic Succession). Consequently Rome has traditionally occupied a central position in the Catholic Church, although this is not necessarily so. The pope derives his Pontificate from being Bishop of Rome but is not required to live there; according to the Latin formula ubi Papa, ibi Curia, wherever the pope resides is the central government of the Church, provided that the pope is Bishop of Rome. As such, between 1309 and 1378 the popes lived in Avignon (the Avignon Papacy), a period often called the Babylonian Captivity in allusion to the Biblical exile of Israel. Catholic tradition maintains that the institution of the Pontificate can be found in the Bible, and cites certain key passages in support of this contention. Chief among these passages is Matthew 16: 18 – 19, wherein Jesus Christ says to St. Peter: :"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Other important passages include Luke 22: 31 – 32, John 1: 42, and John 21: 15 – 17.

Regalia and insignia

John 21: 15 – 17 Main article: Papal regalia and insignia.
- The "triregnum" also called the "tiara" or "triple crown"; recent popes have not, however, worn the triregnum though it remains the symbol of the papacy and has not been abolished. In liturgical ceremonies popes wear an episcopal mitre (an erect cloth hat).
- Staff topped by a crucifix, a custom established before the 13th century.
- The pallium (a circular band of fabric about two inches wide, worn over the chasuble about the neck, breast and shoulders and having two twelve-inch-long pendants hanging down in front and behind, ornamented with six small, black crosses distributed about the breast, back, shoulders, and pendants).
- The "Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven", the image of two keys, one gold and one silver. The silver key symbolises the power to bind and loose on Earth, and the gold key the power to bind and loose in Heaven.
- The Fisherman's Ring, a gold ring decorated with a depiction of St. Peter in a boat casting his net, with the name of the reigning pope around it.
- The umbracullum (better known in the Italian form ombrellino) is a canopy or umbrella (consisting of alternating red and gold stripes).
- One of the most familiar (and now discontinued) trappings of the Papacy was the sedia gestatoria, a mobile throne carried by twelve footmen (palafrenieri) in red uniforms, accompanied by two attendants bearing flabella (fans made of white ostrich-feathers). The use of the sedia gestatoria and of the flabella was discontinued by Pope John Paul II, with the former being replaced by the so-called Popemobile. In heraldry, each pope has his own Papal Coat of Arms. Though unique for each pope, the arms are always surmounted by the aforementioned two keys in saltire (i.e., crossed over one another so as to form an X) behind the escutcheon (one key silver and one key gold, tied with a red cord), and above them a silver triregnum with three gold crowns and red infulae, or the red strips of fabric hanging from the back over the shoulders when worn ("two keys in saltire or and argent, interlacing in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or"). The flag most frequently associated with the pope is the yellow and white flag of Vatican City, with the arms of the Holy See ("Gules, two keys in saltire or and argent, interlacing in the rings or, beneath a tiara argent, crowned or") on the right hand side in the white half of the flag. This flag was first adopted in 1808, whereas the previous flag had been red and gold, the traditional colours of the Pontificate.

Status and authority

1808, 2005.]] The status and authority of the pope in the Catholic Church was dogmatically defined by the First Vatican Council in its Dogmatic Constitution of the Church of Christ (July 18, 1870). The first chapter of this document is entitled "On the institution of the apostolic primacy in blessed Peter", and states that (s.1) "according to the Gospel evidence, a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the Lord" and that (s.6) "if anyone says that blessed Peter the apostle was not appointed by Christ the Lord as prince of all the apostles and visible head of the whole church militant; or that it was a primacy of honour only and not one of true and proper jurisdiction that he directly and immediately received from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself: let him be anathema." The Dogmatic Constitution's second chapter, "On the permanence of the primacy of blessed Peter in the Roman pontiffs", states that (s.1) "that which our Lord Jesus Christ [...] established in the blessed apostle Peter [...] must of necessity remain forever, by Christ's authority, in the church which, founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time," that (s.3) "whoever succeeds to the chair of Peter obtains by the institution of Christ Himself, the primacy of Peter over the whole church", and that (s.5) "if anyone says that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord Himself (that is to say, by divine law) that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church; or that the Roman pontiff is not the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy: let him be anathema." The Dogmatic Constitution's third chapter, "On the power and character of the primacy of the Roman pontiff," states that (s.1) "the definition of the ecumenical council of Florence, which must be believed by all faithful Christians, namely that the apostolic see and the Roman pontiff hold a world-wide primacy, and that the Roman pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, the prince of the apostles, true vicar of Christ, head of the whole church and father and teacher of all Christian people," that (s.2) "by divine ordinance, the Roman church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other church, and that the jurisdictional power of the Roman pontiff is both episcopal and immediate" and that "clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the church throughout the world." The powers of the pope are defined by the Dogmatic Constitution (ch.3, s.8) such that "he is the supreme judge of the faithful, and that in all cases which fall under ecclesiastical jurisdiction recourse may be had to his judgement" and that "the sentence of the apostolic see (than which there is no higher authority) is not subject to revision by anyone, nor may anyone lawfully pass judgement thereupon" (can. 331 defines the power of the pope as "supreme, full, immediate and universal ordinary power in the Church, and he can always freely exercise this power"). It also dogmatically defined (ch.4, s.9) the doctrine of Papal infallibility, sc. such that :when the Roman Pontiff speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church, he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed His church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that "it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every creature to be united to the Roman Pontiff" (Pope Boniface VIII). This teaching is often summarized by the phrase "extra Ecclesiam nulla salus" (outside the Church exists no salvation), which has been reaffirmed by many popes throughout the centuries. Blessed John XXIII said: "Into this fold of Jesus Christ no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff, and only if they be united to him can men be saved." Pope Paul VI also said: "Those outside the Church do not possess the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church alone is the Body of Christ... and if separated from the Body of Christ he is not one of His members, nor is he fed by His Spirit." However, this dogma has been misinterpreted by both Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Many popes stressed that those who are invincibly ignorant of the Catholic religion can still obtain salvation. Pope Pius IX stated in his encyclical Quanto conficiamur moeror (1868): "We all know that those who are afflicted with invincible ignorance with regard to our holy religion, if they carefully keep the precepts of the natural law that have been written by God in the hearts of all men, if they are prepared to obey God, and if they lead a virtuous and dutiful life, can attain eternal life by the power of divine light and grace." Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio: "But it is clear that today, as in the past, many people do not have an opportunity to come to know or accept the Gospel revelation or to enter the Church.... For such people, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally a part of the Church but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation. This grace comes from Christ; it is the result of his sacrifice and is communicated by the Holy Spirit. It enables each person to attain salvation through his or her free cooperation." The pope has many powers which he exercises. He can appoint bishops to dioceses, erect and suppress dioceses, appoint prefects to the Roman dicasteries, approve or veto their acts, modify the Liturgy and issue liturgical laws, revise the Code of Canon Law, canonize and beatify individuals, approve and suppress religious orders, impose canonical sanctions, act as a judge and hear cases, issue encyclicals, and issue infallible statements on matters pertaining to faith and morals which, according to the Church, must be believed by all Catholics. Most of these functions are performed by and through the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia, with the pope simply approving their actions prior to becoming official. While approval is generally granted, it is at the pope's discretion. See Donation of Constantine for discussion of the broader authority the papacy has argued the Catholic Church possesses in affairs of state.

Political role

Though the progressive Christianisation of the Roman Empire in the fourth century did not confer upon bishops civil authority within the state, the gradual withdrawal of imperial authority during the 5th century left the pope the senior Imperial civilian official in Rome, as bishops were increasingly directing civil affairs in other cities of the Western Empire. This status as a secular and civil leader was vividly displayed by Pope Leo I's confrontation with Attila in 452 and was substantially increased in 754, when the Frankish ruler Pippin the Younger donated to the pope a strip of territory which formed the core of the so-called Papal States (properly the Patrimony of St. Peter). In 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish ruler Charlemagne as Roman Emperor, a major step toward establishing what later became known as the Holy Roman Empire; from that date it became the pope's prerogative to crown the Emperor or any monarch with affiliations with the church until the crowning of Napoleon. As has been hitherto mentioned, the pope's sovereignty over the Papal States ended in 1870 with their annexation by Italy. In addition to the pope's position as a territorial ruler and foremost prince bishop of Christianity (especially prominent with the Renaissance popes like Pope Alexander VI, an ambitious if spectacularly corrupt politico, and Pope Julius II, a formidable general and statesman) and as the spiritual head of the Holy Roman Empire (especially prominent during periods of contention with the Emperors, such as during the Pontificates of Pope Gregory VII and Pope Alexander III), the pope also possessed a degree of political and temporal authority in his capacity as Supreme Pontiff. Some of the most striking examples of Papal political authority are the Bull Laudabiliter in 1155 (authorising Henry II of England to invade Ireland), the Bull Inter Caeteras in 1493 (leading to the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494, which divided the world into areas of Spanish and Portuguese rule) the Bull Regnans in Excelsis in 1570 (excommunicating Elizabeth I of England and purporting to release all her subjects from their allegiance to her), the Bull Inter Gravissimas in 1582 (establishing the Gregorian Calendar).

Death, abdication, and election

Death

The current regulations regarding a papal interregnum — i.e., a sede vacante ("vacant seat") — were promulgated by John Paul II in his 1996 document Universi Dominici Gregis. During the "Reading Festival", the Sacred College of Cardinals, composed of the pope's principal advisors and assistants, is collectively responsible for the government of the Church and of the Vatican itself, under the direction of the Cardinal Chamberlain; however, canon law specifically forbids the Cardinals from introducing any innovation in the government of the Church during the vacancy of the Holy See. Any decision that needs the assent of the pope has to wait until a new pope has been elected and takes office. It has long been claimed that a pope's death is officially determined by the Cardinal Chamberlain by gently tapping the late pope's head thrice with a silver hammer and calling his birth name three times, though this is disputed and has never been confirmed by the Vatican; there is general agreement that even if this procedure ever actually occurred, it was likely not employed upon the death of John Paul II. A doctor may or may not have already determined that the pope had passed away prior to this point. The Cardinal Chamberlain then retrieves the Fisherman's Ring. Usually the ring is on the pope's right hand. But in the case of Paul VI, he had stopped wearing the ring during the last years of his reign. In other cases the ring might have been removed for medical reasons. The Chamberlain cuts the ring in two in the presence of the Cardinals. The deceased pope's seals are defaced, to keep them from ever being used again, and his personal apartment is sealed. The body then lies in state for a number of days before being interred in the crypt of a leading church or cathedral; the popes of the 20th century were all interred in St. Peter's Basilica. A nine-day period of mourning (novem dialis) follows after the interment of the late pope.

Abdication

The Code of Canon Law [http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P16.HTM 332 §2] states, If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone. It was widely reported in June and July 2002 that Pope John Paul II firmly refuted the speculation of his resignation using Canon 332, in a letter to the Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera. Nevertheless, 332 §2 gave rise to speculation that either:
- Pope John Paul II would have resigned as his health failed, or
- a properly manifested legal instrument had already been drawn up that put into effect his resignation in the event of his incapacity to perform his duties. Pope John Paul II did not resign. He died on 2 April 2005 after suffering from many diseases and was buried on 8 April 2005. [http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Pope+Dead&btnG=Search+News Articles on the death of John Paul II] After his death it was reported that in his last will and testament he had considered abdicating in 2000 as he neared his 80th birthday. However the language of that passage of the will is not clear and others have interpreted it differently.

Election

The pope was originally chosen by those senior clergymen resident in and near Rome. In 1059, the electorate was restricted to the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and the individual votes of all Cardinal Electors were made equal in 1179. Pope Urban VI, elected 1378, was the last pope who was not already a cardinal at the time of his election. Canon law requires that if a layman or non-bishop is elected, he receives episcopal consecration from the Dean of the College of Cardinals before assuming the Pontificate. Under present canon law, the pope is elected by the cardinal electors, comprising those cardinals who are under the age of 80. The Second Council of Lyons was convened on May 7, 1274, to regulate the election of the pope. This Council decreed that the cardinal electors must meet within ten days of the pope's death, and that they must remain in seclusion until a pope has been elected; this was prompted by the three-year Sede Vacante following the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268. By the mid-Sixteenth century, the electoral process had more or less evolved into its present form, allowing for alteration in the time between the death of the pope and the meeting of the cardinal electors. Traditionally the vote was conducted by acclamation, by selection (by committee), or by plenary vote. Acclamation was the simplest procedure, consisting entirely of a voice vote, and was last used in 1621. Pope John Paul II abolished vote by acclamation and by selection by committee, and henceforth all popes will be elected by full vote of the Sacred College of Cardinals by ballot. The election of the pope almost always takes place in the Sistine Chapel, in a meeting called a "conclave" (so called because the cardinal electors are theoretically locked in, cum clavi, until they elect a new pope). Three cardinals are chosen by lot to collect the votes of absent cardinal electors (by reason of illness), three are chosen by lot to count the votes, and three are chosen by lot to review the count of the votes. The ballots are distributed and each cardinal elector writes the name of his choice on it and pledges aloud that he is voting for "one whom under God I think ought to be elected" before folding and depositing his vote on a plate atop a large chalice placed on the altar. The plate is then used to drop the ballot into the chalice, making it difficult for any elector to insert multiple ballots. Before being read, the number of ballots are counted while still folded; if the total number of ballots does not match the number of electors, the ballots are burned unopened and a new vote is held. Assuming the number of ballots matches the number of electors, each ballot is then read aloud by the presiding Cardinal, who pierces the ballot with a needle and thread, stringing all the ballots together and tying the ends of the thread to ensure accuracy and honesty. Balloting continues until a pope is elected by a two-thirds majority (since the promulgation of Universi Dominici Gregis the rules allow for a simple majority after a deadlock of twelve days). conclave following his coronation, a tradition which has now been discontinued.]] One of the most famous aspects of the papal election process is the means by which the results of a ballot are announced to the world. Once the ballots are counted and bound together, they are burned in a special oven erected in the Sistine Chapel, with the smoke escaping through a small chimney visible from St Peter's Square. The ballots from an unsuccessful vote are burned along with a chemical compound in order to produce black smoke, or fumata nera. (Traditionally wet straw was used to help create the black smoke, but a number of "false alarms" in past conclaves have brought about this concession to modern chemistry.) When a vote is successful, the ballots are burned alone, sending white smoke (fumata bianca) through the chimney and announcing to the world the election of a new pope. At the end of the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, church bells were also rung to signal that a new pope had been chosen. The Dean of the College of Cardinals then asks the successfully elected Cardinal two solemn questions. First he asks, "Do you freely accept your election?" If he replies with the word "Accepto," his reign as pope begins at that instant, not at the coronation ceremony several days afterward. The Dean then asks, "By what name shall you be called?" The new pope then announces the regnal name he has chosen for himself. The new pope is led through the "Door of Tears" to a dressing room in which three sets of white Papal vestments ("immantatio") await: small, medium, and large. Donning the appropriate vestments and re-emerging into the Sistine Chapel, the new pope is given the "Fisherman's Ring" by the Cardinal Camerlengo, whom he either reconfirms or reappoints. The pope then assumes a place of honor as the rest of the Cardinals wait in turn to offer their first "obedience" ("adoratio"), and to receive his blessing. The senior Cardinal Deacon then announces from a balcony over St. Peter's Square the following proclamation: Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum! Habemus Papam! ("I announce to you a great joy! We have a pope!"). He then announces the new pope's Christian name along with the new name he has adopted as his regnal name. Until 1978, the pope's election was followed in a few days by a procession in great pomp and circumstance from the Sistine Chapel to St. Peter's Basilica, with the newly-elected pope borne in the sedia gestatoria. There the pope was crowned with the triregnum and he gave his first blessing as pope, the famous Urbi et Orbi ("to the City [Rome] and to the World"). Another famed part of the coronation was the lighting of a torch which would flare brightly and promptly extinguish, with the admonition Sic transit gloria mundi ("Thus fades worldly glory"). Traditionally, the new pope takes the Papal oath (the so-called "Oath against modernism") at his coronation, but Popes John Paul I, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI have all refused to do so. The Latin term sede vacante ("vacant seat") refers to a papal interregnum, the period between the death of the pope and the election of his successor. From this term is derived the name Sedevacantist, which designates a category of dissident, schismatic Catholics who maintain that there is no canonically and legitimately elected pope, and that there is therefore a Sede Vacante; one of the most common reasons for holding this belief is the idea that the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and especially the replacement of the Tridentine Mass with the Novus Ordo Missae are heretical, and that, per the dogma of Papal infallibility (see above), it is impossible for a valid pope to have done these things.

Objections to the Papacy

The pope's position as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church is dogmatic and therefore not open to debate or dispute within the Catholic Church; the First Vatican Council anathematised all who dispute the pope's primacy of honour and of jurisdiction (it is lawful to discuss the precise nature of that primacy, provided that such discussion does not violate the terms of the Council's Dogmatic Constitution). However, the pope's authority is not undisputed outside the Catholic Church; these objections differ from denomination to denomination, but can roughly be outlined as (1.) objections to the extent of the primacy of the pope; and (2.) objections to the institution of the Papacy itself. anathema Some non-Catholic Christian communities, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion, accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, and therefore accept (to varying extents) the papal claims to primacy of honour. However, these churches generally deny that the pope is the successor to St. Peter in any unique sense not true of any other bishop, or that St. Peter was ever bishop of Rome at all. The primacy is therefore regarded as a consequence of the pope's position as bishop of the original capital city of the Roman Empire, a definition explicitly spelled out in the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon. In any event, these churches see no foundation at all to papal claims of universal jurisdiction. Because none of them recognise the First Vatican Council as ecumenical, they regard its definitions concerning jurisdiction and infallibility (and anathematisation of those who do not accept them) as invalid. Other non-Catholic Christian denominations do not accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, or do not understand it in hierarchical terms, and therefore do not accept the claim that the pope is heir either to Petrine primacy of honour or to Petrine primacy of jurisdiction or they reject both claims of honor or jurisdiction as unscriptural. The Papacy's complex relationship with the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and other secular states, and the Papacy's territorial claims in Italy, are another focal point of these objections; as is the monarchical character of the office of pope. In Western Christianity, these objections — and the vehement rhetoric they have at times been cast in — both contributed to, and are products of, the Protestant Reformation. These denominations vary from simply not accepting the pope's authority as legitimate and valid, to believing that the pope is the Antichrist or one of the beasts spoken of in the Book of Revelation. These denominations tend to be more heterogeneous amongst themselves than the aforementioned hierarchical churches, and their views regarding the Papacy and its institutional legitimacy (or lack thereof) vary considerably. Some objectors to the papacy use empirical arguments, pointing to the corrupt characters of some of the holders of that office. For instance, some argue that claimed successors to St. Peter, like Alexander VI and Callixtus III from the Borgia family, were so corrupt as to be unfit to wield power to bind and loose on Earth or in Heaven. An omniscient and omnibenevolent God, some argue, would not have given those people the powers claimed for them by the Catholic Church. Defenders of the papacy argue that the Bible shows God as willingly giving privileges even to corrupt men (citing examples like some of the kings of Israel, the apostle Judas Iscariot, and even St. Peter after he denied Jesus). They also argue that not even the worst of the corrupt popes used the office to try to rip the doctrine of the Church from its apostolic roots, and that this is evidence that the office is divinely protected. Some objectors to the papacy occasionally refer to the Catholic Church and its members by the pejorative term papist to point up what they believe to be an inappropriate focus of attention on the office and an improper attribution of certain divine favors ex officio.

Other Popes

An antipope is a person who claims the Pontificate without being canonically and properly elected to it. The existence of an antipope is usually due either to doctrinal controversy within the Church, or to confusion as to who is the legitimate pope at the time (see Papal Schism). "The Black Pope" is a derogatory name given to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus due to the Jesuits' practice of wearing black cassocks (compared to the pope's always wearing white robes), and to the order's specific allegiance to the Roman pontiff. The heads of the Coptic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria are also called "popes" for historical reasons, the former being called "Coptic Pope" or "Pope of Alexandria" and the latter called "Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa"; the parallel construction "Pope of Rome" is frequently used in the Eastern churches. In Islam, the former office of Caliph held similar meaning, as the leader of all Muslims, subordinate only to the prophet Muhammad.

External links

- [http://www.vatican.va/ The Holy See]
- [http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/_INDEX.HTM Code of Canon Law] – Vatican site
- [http://www.dailycatholic.org/history/20ecume3.htm The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ], Fourth Session of the First Vatican Council
- [http://web.globalserve.net/~bumblebee/ecclesia/patriarchs.htm Eastern Church Defends Petrine Primacy and the Papacy]
- [http://thepopeblog.blogspot.com/ The Pope Blog] – Unofficial weblog about the pope
- [http://popetribute.com/ Pope Tribute] – A tribute to the pope, present and past
- [http://www.papst-benedikt.be Pope Benedict XVI and other Popes] (germ.)
- [http://www.geocities.com/hashanayobel/papalinfo.htm Papal information] News about ongoing Papal Events
- [http://www.punditguy.com/2005/04/german_pope.html Pope Election News Roundup]
- [http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/benedictxvi/ Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez announcing Habemus Papam (We have a Pope!)] (Windows Media Player Video).
- [http://www.americancatholic.org/news/BenedictXVI/ American Catholic - Pope Benedict XVI Starts His Papacy]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1452750,00.html Swiss Watchers - article about the Papal Guards in THE GUARDIAN]
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- Category:Ecclesiastical titles als:Papst ko:교황 ms:Paus (Katholik) ja:ローマ教皇 simple:Pope th:พระสันตะปาปา

1297

Events

- 8 January - Monaco gains independence.
- English Church refuses to pay taxes, resulting in crisis.
- William Wallace begins his revolt against the English.
- Canonization of Louis IX, King of France
- August 28 - Edward I unsuccessfully invades Flanders.
- 11 September - Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots of Andrew de Moray and William Wallace defeat English.

Births

- March 25 - Arnost of Pardubice, Archbishop of Prague (d. 1364)
- August 14 - Emperor Hanazono of Japan (died 1348)
- Abu al-Hasan 'Ali, Sultan of Morocco (died 1351)
- Charles II of Alençon
- Kęstutis, Grand Prince of Lithuania (died 1382)
- Thomas Wake, English baron (died 1349)

Deaths

- August 19 - Saint Louis of Toulouse, French Catholic bishop (born 1274)
- December 31 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (born 1249) Category:1297 ko:1297년

1499

Events

- January 8 - Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany due to law set by his predecessor, Louis VIII
- July 22 - Battle of Dornach - The Swiss decisively defeat the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.
- July 28 - First Battle of Lepanto - The Turkish navy wins a decisive victory over the Venetians.
- September 22 - Treaty of Basel. Maximilian is forced to grant the Swiss de facto independence.
- November 23 - Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. In 1497 he invaded England claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England.
- November 28 - Edward, Earl of Warwick is executed for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He was the last male member of the House of York.
- The French under Louis XII seize Milan, driving out Duke Ludovico Sforza.

Births

- February 10 - Thomas Platter, Swiss humanist (died 1582)
- March 31 - Pope Pius IV (died 1565)
- September 3 - Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry II of France (died 1566)
- October 14 - Claude of France, queen of Louis XII of France (died 1524)
- Hans Asper, Swiss painter (died 1571)
- Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, Portuguese explorer (died 1543)
-