# Fictional popes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 4, 2021, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049 "2021-08-04T21:31:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/41 "2021-08-05T22:22:45Z")
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro wrote a book called “Magnificat” in which a Chinese woman is elected Pope. It’s been a while since I read it, so I can’t recall the machinations involved, but I did like it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/42 "2021-08-06T00:40:57Z")
Of course there is the ultimate Pope - John XXIX (maybe) from Graham Greene’s short story, [The Last Word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Word_(Greene_short_story)). ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/43 "2021-08-06T19:07:39Z")
Fran Lebowitz gave us the laid-back Pope Ron. (His motto: **INFALLIBLE BUT NOT INFLEXIBLE**.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/44 "2021-08-06T21:51:12Z")
I forgot one from the Babylon 5 spinoff, Crusade. A news broadcast has video of a papal procession, not close enough to see the Pope’s features, and the name Pope Bernadette II. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/45 "2021-08-07T17:16:55Z")
The plot to the buddy cop/dog Chuck Norris film Top Dog involved white supremacists wanting to assassinate the unnamed Pope who is to speak at a “Coalition for Racial Unity” The ending has the titular Top Dog grab the Pope’s scarf and accidentally pull him to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/46 "2021-08-07T22:40:24Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I forgot one from the Babylon 5 spinoff, Crusade. A news broadcast has video of a papal procession, not close enough to see the Pope’s features, and the name Pope Bernadette II. Female popes are popular in futuristic settings. Mark Lawrence’s _Broken Empire_ post-apocalyptic fantasy books have one too - unfortunately, she’s as venal and corrupt as her Borgia predecessor, and is ultimately dispatched in a fairly horrific manner. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/47 "2021-08-08T14:56:55Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Interestingly, there was a real [Pope Pius XIII](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Pulvermacher), for some values of real. He was an antipope, elected by the schismatic, sedevancantist, conclavist “True Roman Catholic Church” in 1998, serving until his death in 2009. And if the real pope ever meets the anti-pope? 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/48 "2021-08-08T15:02:12Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Interestingly, there was a real [Pope Pius XIII](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucian_Pulvermacher), for some values of real. He was an antipope, elected by the schismatic, sedevancantist, conclavist “True Roman Catholic Church” in 1998, serving until his death in 2009. If we’re going with antipopes, there’s Pope Michael of Kansas: > **[David Bawden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bawden)** > > David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022), who took the name Pope Michael I, was an American conclavist claimant to the papacy. Bawden believed that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the Catholic faith since Vatican II, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. In 1990 he was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents. In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Indep... ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/49 "2021-08-08T15:02:47Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > And if the real pope ever meets the anti-pope? > 😁 I think it would be like the end of Timecop. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/D01mdGW9-Zg/hqdefault.jpg "same matter can not occupy same space") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D01mdGW9-Zg) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/50 "2021-08-10T02:55:10Z")
Of course **Lexx** had Pope Genevieve I ([Giggerota the Wicked](https://lexx.fandom.com/wiki/Giggerota) in a past life) in season 4. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/51 "2021-08-10T06:37:50Z")
The particular future Pope’s name was not given, but in Woody Allen’s _Sleeper_ we see a newspaper headline ‘Pope’s wife has twins’. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2021, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/52 "2021-08-10T07:21:45Z")
It’s been years since I read it, but I believe Paul Gallico’s _The Small Miracle_ has an unnamed Pope, who intercedes on the protagonists’ behalf. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/53 "2021-08-12T14:25:48Z")
There was the one about the Catholic head honcho who had all the answers to life’s questions. It was called _The Straight Pope_, if I’m not mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/54 "2021-08-12T16:43:49Z")
Later canonized as Saint Cecil ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/55 "2021-08-12T16:50:35Z")
IIRC, Cecil has in fact made reference to being Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/56 "2021-08-12T16:58:16Z")
Well if he was the pope it stands to reason, now we just need to verify the rumors about the bears… ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/57 "2021-08-12T17:09:38Z")
Pope Cecil? Why, that’s [Hilarius](https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tDP1TdITkoyM2D04i3IL0hVyMjMSSzKLC0GAF_4CCg&q=pope+hilarius&oq=Pope+Hilarius&aqs=chrome.1.0i355i512j46i512j0i512l2j0i22i30l3.10984j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)! ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/58 "2021-08-12T17:12:06Z")
No, Hilarius II was the one before him. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/59 "2021-08-12T17:49:05Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > OK, here’s one for real: **Foul Play** has a fictional pope attending a **Mikado** performance in Frisco where a terrorist group is going to assassinate him. That was a fun little movie even though Chevy Chase was in it. A chase scene choreographed to songs from _The Mikado_ is a wonderful thing. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2021, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-popes/948049/60 "2021-08-12T17:51:59Z")
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