Popes Trivia
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46 free Popes trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Popes trivia for church history buffs, Conclave fans and anyone who watched the chimney in 2025 and wanted to know what the smoke meant. The quiz starts with the office itself: the Greek word for father, the Keys of Heaven, the titles from Supreme Pontiff to Servant of the Servants of God, the Fisherman's Ring that is cut in two when a pope dies, and the Lateran Treaty that created Vatican City in 1929. From there it covers how popes are made: the two-thirds majority, the age-80 cutoff for electors, the three-year deadlock at Viterbo that gave us the locked-in conclave, and 'Habemus Papam' from the balcony. Then the wild history: the seven French popes at Avignon, three rival popes at once during the Western Schism, the corpse put on trial at the Cadaver Synod, the legend of Pope Joan, the hermit who resigned after five months, the Borgias, the Warrior Pope who hired Michelangelo, and the pope who banned tobacco in a 12-day reign. Later questions cover infallibility, the longest and shortest reigns, why popes change their names, John Paul II's break with 455 years of Italians, Benedict XVI's resignation and Leo XIV, the first American pope. Questions run from easy to expert and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. See also our Catholic Church, Vatican and Pope Francis quizzes.
30 of 46 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which king broke with Rome after Pope Clement VII would not annul his first marriage?
Henry VIII
Henry VIII: the pope was possibly swayed by Emperor Charles V, whose aunt, Catherine of Aragon, was the wife Henry wanted to set aside.
Q 02Which reformer did Pope Leo X excommunicate in 1521?
Martin Luther
Martin Luther: he had refused to take back his teachings, and the Reformation that followed split the Western Church.
Q 03The word 'pope' derives from the Ancient Greek word for what?
father
Father: the title was once given to many bishops, especially in the East, before the West reserved it for the bishop of Rome.
Q 04Which 1929 Italy-Holy See agreement established Vatican City as an independent state?
the Lateran Treaty
The Lateran Treaty: an attached financial deal also compensated the Holy See for the Papal States that Italy had taken.
Q 05After Italy seized Rome in 1870, the pope protested by proclaiming himself what?
A prisoner
A prisoner: for almost 60 years popes refused to leave the Vatican rather than accept the Italian kingdom's authority.
Q 06Where has every papal election taken place since 1878?
the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel: several 19th-century conclaves met in the Quirinal Palace instead, until Italy seized it along with Rome in 1870.
Q 07Pope Francis belonged to which religious order?
The Jesuits
The Jesuits: a pope had suppressed the order in 1773, and it was only restored in 1814.
Q 08What colour smoke from the conclave chimney announces that a pope has been elected?
white
White: burning the ballots makes the smoke, and damp straw was once added to turn failed votes black, a job chemicals do today.
Q 09The 1268-71 deadlock that led to the locked-in conclave rules took place in which Italian town?
Viterbo
Viterbo: its exasperated authorities locked the cardinals in to force a decision.
Q 10What Latin term names the period between a pope's death or resignation and his successor's election?
sede vacante
Sede vacante: the cardinals may handle only ordinary business meanwhile, and anything reserved to a pope must wait for the next one.
Q 11Castel Gandolfo, home to a papal palace, is one proposed site of which ancient city?
Alba Longa
Alba Longa: in legend, Aeneas's son Ascanius founded it, and Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, came from its royal line.
Q 12Which of these is one of the pope's official titles?
Servant of the servants of God
Servant of the servants of God: Gregory the Great used it widely, by one account as a lesson in humility to a patriarch who styled himself 'ecumenical'.
Q 13Which church council proclaimed papal infallibility in 1870?
The First Vatican Council
Q 21The legend of Pope Joan says she was unmasked as a woman when she did what?
gave birth
Gave birth: the tale was believed for centuries, until Catholic and Protestant scholars alike concluded the popess never existed.
Q 22The hermit Pietro da Morrone became Celestine V in 1294 and did what after five months?
abdicated
Abdicated: his successor Boniface VIII then kept him in custody so rivals couldn't use him, until he died in 1296.
Q 23Alexander VI, whose reign made his family name a byword for nepotism, was born into which family?
the Borgias
The Borgias: he openly used his office to back the military career of his son, Cesare Borgia.
The First Vatican Council: two months after the vote, Italian troops took Rome and the council was suspended, never to meet again.
Q 14Whose nearly 32-year reign is the longest verified of any pope, after Saint Peter?
Pius IX
Pius IX: elected as a liberal, he turned firmly conservative after revolutionaries forced him to flee Rome in 1848.
Q 15Urban VII, pope for just 12 days in 1590, is remembered for the world's first known ban on what?
public smoking
Public smoking: he threatened to excommunicate anyone using tobacco in or near a church, but malaria killed him before his coronation.
Q 16From 1309 to 1376, seven successive popes resided not in Rome but in which city?
Avignon
Avignon: the popes bought the city outright in 1348, and it stayed papal territory until the French Revolution.
Q 17Which French king's forces seized Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni in 1303?
Philip IV
Philip IV: the humiliated pope died a month later, and Philip went on to press Clement V into sacrificing the Knights Templar.
Q 18In 1409, which Italian city's church council tried to end the Western Schism but added a third pope?
Pisa
Pisa: its council declared both rival popes deposed and elected Alexander V, but neither rival stepped down.
Q 19Which church gathering of 1414-18 finally ended the Western Schism?
the Council of Constance
The Council of Constance: it also tried the reformer Jan Hus and had him burned at the stake in 1415.
Q 20At the Cadaver Synod of 897, Pope Stephen VI put the exhumed corpse of which predecessor on trial?
Formosus
Formosus: the synod cut off his blessing fingers and his body ended up in the Tiber, but within months Stephen VI was strangled.
Q 24Which 'Warrior Pope' commissioned Michelangelo's Moses for his own tomb?
Julius II
Julius II: he rode at the head of his own army, personally leading campaigns to win back papal cities.
Q 25Which pope launched the First Crusade with his preaching at the Council of Clermont in 1095?
Urban II
Urban II: he had been elected at Terracina, south of Rome, because a rival antipope held the city.
Q 26The calendar used by most of the world today is named after which pope, who introduced it in 1582?
Gregory XIII
Gregory XIII: to correct a ten-day drift against the seasons, his reform simply dropped ten days from the calendar in 1582.
Q 27As of 2025, Nicholas Breakspear, elected Adrian IV in 1154, is the only pope from which country?
England
England: when he met Frederick Barbarossa in 1155, the future emperor at first refused to hold the pope's stirrup, a customary act of homage.
Q 28Who did Mercurius become in 533 when he began the custom of popes taking a new name?
John II
John II: Mercurius felt a pope shouldn't bear the name of the pagan god Mercury, so he chose a more fitting one.
Q 29Which invader withdrew from Italy in 452 after meeting Pope Leo the Great?
Attila
Attila: the pope met him near Mantua with two imperial envoys, though historians debate how much Leo's own authority counted.
Q 30What nickname did John Paul I earn in his 33 days as pope?
Smiling Pope
Smiling Pope: as Patriarch of Venice he had written whimsical letters to historical and literary figures, collected as Illustrissimi.