White Smoke Rising: The Papacy Throughout History

From St. Peter to Leo XIV, discover the evolution of the world's oldest religious office

Illustration by Charlotte Reid

The office of Peter, the rock upon which the Church is built, may change its methods or its language, but its inner form remains. In the midst of many changes, it is essentially the same, ever ancient and ever new.

Cardinal Robert Prevost is the elected successor of Pope Francis, taking the name Leo XIV following the millennium-old tradition known as the papal conclave. During their time sequestered and isolated from the outside world, 133 eligible Cardinal electors chose the new leader of the Catholic Church, but only once a single candidate received a two-thirds majority.

As the Cardinals voted repeatedly, the crowds in St. Peter’s Square waited for the new papal era to begin. Each failure, marked by black smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, brought sighs from those hoping to witness history, until the moment white smoke appeared in the air and celebrations began.

Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, was elected May 8, 2025.

 According to the Annuario Pontificio, the papal annual, there have been more than 260 popes since St. Peter, traditionally considered the first pope. The First Letter of Peter includes an allusion to Rome, however there is no historical evidence that Peter was Rome’s first bishop or that he was martyred during the Christian persecution of the mid-60s CE. However, his presence in the imperial capital has been accepted and recognized by Christian leaders since the end of the 1st century. The Petrine Theory is what bolstered Rome’s status since it claims that Jesus Christ had designated Peter to be his representative on Earth, tasked with leading the Church; a duty which would pass on to his successors. In the story, Jesus referred to Peter as the rock foundation of the Church, giving him the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which remain a symbol of the papacy today. In its early years, the papacy maintained Rome’s supremacy in the face of increasing challenges from Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Empire, and its ideology of superiority.

 Following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, political instability plagued papal decisions, with Popes often forced to make concessions to temporal author ities in exchange for protection. During the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, the relationship between Byzantium and the papacy experienced several strains. Disputes over the Monothelite heresy and Iconoclasm played a role in the breakdown of the relationship, however it was ultimately Byzantium’s failure to protect the pope against Lombard threats that saw Pope Leo III crown Charlemagne emperor of the Romans in 800. This was a serious affront to the Byzantines’ belief in how the world was ordered and caused a powerful rift. South ern Italy, Sicily and Illyricum, which had been under papal control were seized by Byzantine authorities, and despite eventual reconciliation between the two parties, this land was never restored to the pope’s jurisdiction.

 T he papacy is both a religious and a political office since the pope is the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church as well as absolute monarch of Vatican City, the smallest sovereign state in the world. He is both bishop of Rome and a head of state. In the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, the Vatican was the capital of a much-larger papal state, at its height bordering the territories of Florence, Naples, Milan and Venice, covering much of Northern Italy. During this period, the papacy exhibited an unprecedented display of secular power, wielding great influence in the dramatic politics of Italian families. For instance, it was a Medici pope, Clement VII, who negotiated the installation of the first Medici Duke in Florence. The shift from spiritual institution to formidable political entity is glaringly evident in the reigns of several popes and their secular entanglements: Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, Julius II.

Sixtus IV: The architect of papal nepotism and dynastic ambition

Sixtus IV, reigning pope from 1471-1484, was amongst the first Renaissance popes to embrace an audaciously secular approach to power, known for rampant nepotism that would soon become a defining feature of this period in papal history. He appointed multiple relatives to important ecclesiastical and political positions in efforts to consolidate his family’s dominant status in Rome. Sixtus was also deeply entrenched in secular power struggles, most notably supporting the infamous Pazzi Conspiracy (1478), an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Medici rule in Florence which involved the assassination of Guiliano de’ Medici. As a pope complicit in a violent coup, Sixtus IV exemplifies the abandonment of papal principles in favour of personal ambition.

Alexander VI: The epitome of corruption

Few popes have achieved as notorious a reputation as Alexander VI, who reigned from 1492 to 1503. His ten ure as pope was characterized by unrestrained dynastic ambition and willingness to manipulate and betray allies for his own personal gain. Born Rodrigo Borgia, his family name became synonymous with corruption, a legacy solidified with his political manoeuvres. Even his election was tainted with duplicity, securing votes using vast sums of money. Once in power, Alexander showed unprecedented audacity in order to carve out more dynastic power for his family, particularly through his son, Cesare Borgia.

Alexander VI also engaged in flagrant moral transgressions, with numerous illegitimate children being publicly acknowledged despite the blatant contradiction to ecclesiastical expectations of celibacy. Lucrezia Borgia, portrayed in numerous artworks, novels and films, was the illegitimate daughter of Alexander VI and his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her family arranged several marriages for her that advanced their own political positions, whilst rumours of orgies, poisonings, assassination plots, and all kinds of scandalous debauchery in the Borgia court have cast her as a femme fatal and tarnished the Church’s reputation during this time.

The Banquet of Chesnuts was an alleged orgy purportedly held at the papal palace and hosted by Cesare Borgia, the pope’s son in October 1501. An account of the infamous banquet appears in Johann Burchard’s Liber Notarum in which he describes the scene as follows:

“On the evening of the last day of October 1501, Cesare Borgia arranged a banquet in his chambers in the Vatican with “fifty honest prostitutes”, called courtesans, who danced after dinner with the attendants and others who were present, at first in their garments, then naked. After dinner the candelabra with the burning candles were taken from the tables and placed on the floor, and chestnuts were strewn around, which the naked courtesans picked up, creeping on hands and knees between the chandeliers, while the Pope, Cesare, and his sister Lucrezia looked on. Finally, prizes were announced for those who could perform the act most often with the courtesans, such as tunics of silk, shoes, barrets, and other things.”

Whether factual or entirely fabricated by political enemies, this rumour became representative of the unrestrained excesses of the Borgia court.

Lucrezia Borgia presiding over the Roman Curia by Frank Cowper

 Julius II: “The Warrior Pope”

Julius II, reigning pope between 1503-1513, furthered the transformation of the papacy by openly embracing militarism, rather than relying on intrigue and political manipulation as his predecessors had. His preference for direct military confrontations earned him the name “warrior pope”. Julius was relentless in his pursuit to expand the Papal State’s territorial reach, personally leading armies into battle and initiating wars against Venice, France and various Italian city states as he sought to restore papal control of central Italy. This aggressive military strategy shattered any lingering perceptions of the pope as a purely spiritual leader, ultimately contributing to growing disillusionment with the Catholic Church and paving the way for the Protestant Reformation.

The Modern Papacy – From 1775 to the 21st century

The Age of Revolutions marked the lowest point in papal fortunes. Pius VI attempted to reform the Curia and embellish Rome but died a prisoner of the French in 1799. Pius VII, despite negotiating a ground-breaking concordat with the French Consular in 1801, spent 5 years as Napoleon’s prisoner, and the Papal States were temporarily lost between 1809 and 1814. This chapter in the papacy’s history is defined by a struggle to survive as enlightened absolutism and revolutionary strife became a heightened threat.

Pope Pius IX, (1846-78), the longest reigning pope, became increasingly conservative throughout his reign. His Syllabus of Errors laid out 80 principles for the Church, setting Catholicism on a conservative path centred on the papacy. Increasingly, the papacy relied on its spiritual authority, loudly proclaiming the nature of the pope as absolute ruler of the Catholic Church, opposing all challenges to papal centralization such as the Modernism movement.

Since then, the papacy has had to roll with the times, adapting and evolving to find a place in the modern world. Perhaps no pontiff reflects this evolution so much as the late Pope Francis, the first South American and first Jesuit to become pope upon the resignation of Benedict in 2013. His reforms included restructuring of the Roman Curia, preaching tolerance of homosexuals, addressing the climate crisis, advocating for the poor and the rights of migrants, and delivering apologies for the clergy abuse crisis. A beloved religious leader, Pope Francis, “The People’s Pope”, passed away on the 21st of April this year.

As the world waits to see how Pope Leo XIV will follow Francis, his first words as pope provide hope...

"peace be with all of you."

 “An authentic faith—which is never comfortable or completely personal—always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.”

- Pope Francis (1936-2025)

Written by Charlotte Reid (24-25 Editor-in-Chief), 2nd Year History

Issue 19, 5th Anniversary, June 2025

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Charlotte Reid is a second year History student. Her interests include modern Irish history and the impact religion has upon society.