After all, Pope Francis is leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide. Next to him was Pope Pius IX, who was in office from 1846 to 1878 (31 years, 236 days) followed by Pope John Paul II, who served from 1978 to 2005 (26 years 168 days). Yes, in February 2000 Pope Shenouda and I featured in an Irish Times front-page photograph along with Pope John Paul II, then on a visit to Egypt. After it appeared a colleague sent a copy of the photograph by email to me in Cairo, with the caption: “Pope John Paul, Pope Shenouda of the Coptic Church, and the one from Ballaghaderreen.”It was an outrage, as there was already a pope in Ballaghaderreen, of whom my then colleague was not aware. Pope: from Old English papa, Latin papa, Greek pappas – a child’s word for ‘father’.

Source: The Irish Times August 25, 2018 05:03 UTC