Comment on Why are popes always really old?
libra00@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Because only cardinals can be pope and it takes a long time to work your way up through the priesthood into administration and such like any organization. Also, unlike most businesses or governments they never hire some young(-ish) new ceo or department head from outside.
ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 days ago
Actually any Catholic man could be Pope, but the cardinals usually pick one of their own.
libra00@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Usually pick one of their own == have never not picked one of their own, right?
polysexualstick@lemmy.world 2 days ago
No. There were 6 popes who hadn’t been cardinals. Although it’s been a few hundred years since the last one (Urban VI., elected in 1378).
libra00@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Interesting, I didn’t know that. I was gonna say it certainly hasn’t been any of the recent ones.
ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 days ago
It happened six times: …wikipedia.org/…/Category:Non-cardinals_elected_p…
Pope Urban VI was the last to have been elected without having been a cardinal, in 1378.