Below is a list of the shortest pontificates in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. The links will take you to biographies of these popes - but short biographies. Their reigns were so short that there really isn't much which can be said about them. The numbers in parentheses indicate the position that individual has in a chronological list of all popes.

 

1. (#226) Pope Urban VII: September 15, 1590 - September 27, 1590 (12 days)


2. (#125) Boniface VI: April, 896 (about 15 days)

3. (#177) Celestine IV: October 25 1241 - November 10, 1241 (16 days)

4. (#213) Pope Pius III: October 1, 1503 - October 18, 1503 (17 days)

5. (#87) Pope Sisinnius: January 15, 708 - February 4, 708 (20 days)

6. (#115) Theodore II: November or December, 897 (about 20 days)

7. (#220) Pope Pope Marcellus II: April 10, 1555 - May 1, 1555 (21 days)

8. (#149) Pope Damasus II: July 17, 1048 - August 9, 1048 (23 days)

9. (#233) Leo XI: April 1, 1605 - April 27, 1605 (27 days)

10. (#132) Pope Benedict V: May 22, 964 - July 4, 964 (32 days)

11. (#265) Pope John Paul I: August 26, 1978 - September 28, 1978 (33 days)