Pope John numbering Article Talk The numbering of "popes John" does not occur in strict numerical order. Although there have been twenty-one legitimate popes named John, the numbering has reached John

Pope John numbering
Article Talk
The numbering of "popes John" does not occur in
strict numerical order. Although there have been
twenty-one legitimate popes named John, the
numbering has reached John because of two
errors that were introduced in the Middle Ages: first,
antipope John XVI was kept in the numbering
sequence instead of being removed; then, the
number was skipped because pope John
counted John XIV twice.