Pope John XX was a numbering error in the 11th century, with Pope John XV being mistakenly numbered as Pope John XVI. The error was later corrected, but some historical sources remain incorrect. There have only been 15 valid Pope Johns since the 16th century.
Pope John XX (Pope John XX) does not actually exist. There was a numbering error in the 11th century because historians of the time thought there was a Pope John before Pope John XV (Pope John XV). So they numbered Pope John XV as Pope John XVI (Pope John XVI). The error arose during the transcription of the “Liber Pontificalis” (Book of the Popes), a collection of papal biographies. The error applied to Pope John XV to Pope John XIX (Pope John XV – XIX). The error was later realized and the Popes were renumbered. However, it is important to note that some historical sources have been incorrect and may refer to Pope John 20 as 11 and so on. What made matters more confusing was the overcorrection of some sources and the presence of antipopes, individuals who claimed to be popes but were not. Considering the numbering correction and the antipopes, there have only been 15 valid Pope Johns since the 16th.
More information on the Pope and numbering:
The Pope is the head of the Roman Catholic Church.
“Papa” comes from the Latin word “papa” which means “father”.
Popes are numbered using the Latin numbering system where XX = 20.
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