Updated April 12, 2007
With the election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, there have been 265 popes in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope is the spiritual leader of Roman Catholicism and the visible head of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the successor to St. Peter, the first among the apostles and the first pope of Rome. The following list gives the names of the popes of the Age of Persecution and the years that they reigned.
First Century
1. St. Peter (32-67)2. St. Linus (67-76)
3. St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
4. St. Clement I (88-97)
5. St. Evaristus (97-105)
Second Century
6. St. Alexander I (105-115)7. St. Sixtus I (115-125)
8. St. Telesphorus (125-136)
9. St. Hyginus (136-140)
10. St. Pius I (140-155)
11. St. Anicetus (155-166)
12. St. Soter (166-175)
13. St. Eleutherius (175-189)
14. St. Victor I (189-199)
15. St. Zephyrinus (199-217)
Third Century
16. St. Callistus I (217-22)17. St. Urban I (222-30)
18. St. Pontain (230-35)
19. St. Anterus (235-36)
20. St. Fabian (236-50)
21. St. Cornelius (251-53)
22. St. Lucius I (253-54)
23. St. Stephen I (254-257)
24. St. Sixtus II (257-258)
25. St. Dionysius (260-268)
26. St. Felix I (269-274)
27. St. Eutychian (275-283)
28. St. Caius (283-296)
29. St. Marcellinus (296-304)
Fourth Century
30. St. Marcellus I (308-309)31. St. Eusebius (309 or 310)
32. St. Miltiades (311-14)
