Re: Girl Genius (GG) 7 March 2008

In message <fre7nq$af0$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, James Nicoll
<jdnicoll@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes
>In article <Jxq8My.Gu1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>Dorothy J Heydt <djheydt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>Either that, or he means the seven Popes who've held the See of
>>Rome since he wrote the monograph.  John Paul II reigned for so
>>long -- twenty-six years --that he may have skewed the perceptions
>>of those who are young enough that they can't remember any other
>>Pope.  But his predecessor, JP I, reigned only thirty-three days.
>>Popes, being generally already old men when elected, don't
>>generally last long (particularly in the absence of modern
>>medicine).
>
>       Now, what was the name of the elderly Pope who was put in
>as a care-taker for the presumably short time that he had left, who
>then lived for years and years and years after his selection?

Could be Clement XII (Lorenzo Corsini) when elected on 12 July 1730 he
was 78 years old blind and bedridden [1], he reigned for nearly ten
years, dying on 6 February 1740 after a surprisingly energetic papacy.
Or possibly Adrian I; elected 9 February 773 at reputedly 80 years of
age then reigned for 23 years dying on 25 December 795 possibly aged
103.

[1]     Bemedict XVI is the oldest man elected pope since Clement, who
        was a few months older.
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