Pontifices Maximi

The Roman Catholic Church this week officially abolished six popes.

It was mainly the work of 77-year-old Monsignor Angelo Mercati, Prefect of the Vatican Archives, who began looking into the papal roster during the reign of the present Pontiff's predecessor, Pius XI. Two centuries ago, Giovanni Marangoni, custodian of the Roman catacombs, made up a list of popes based largely on a series of dated papal portraits on the walls of the famed Roman church, St. Paul's Outside the Walls. Scholars had known that the old list was inaccurate, but it took Monsignor Mercati's diligent digging to discover how inaccurate it was. This week the new Vatican Directory reported the revised list. Highlights:

P:Six popes had to be dropped: one (Donus II) never existed; two (the supposed third & fifth Popes Cletus and Anacletus) were the same man. But three new popes had been found: Boniface VI (for a few days in 896), and, possibly, Discorus (for 22 days in 530) and Leo VIII (from 963 to 965). In the case of no fewer than 74 popes, changes had to be made in such matters as their names and dates.

P: Thirty-seven antipopes* are listed, the first of whom--Hippolytus of the 3rd Century--is still considered a saint. From four legitimate pontiffs the designation' of sainthood was removed.

Because of sketchy records and the questionable validity of some papal elections, Pius XII will probably never know whether he is the 256th successor to St. Peter or the 260th -- or somewhere in between.

*Pretenders to the papacy whose claims as Peter's successors have not been recognized by the Church of Rome.

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