How All Modern Popes Share a Common "Ancestor" 

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Shouldn't a line of bishops always be diagonal?

Another interesting non-biological family tree I saw some years ago is an academic family tree that traces a line of doctoral advisors. You can see how Fermi is a distant descendant of Faraday, descended from Lavoisier, descended from Liebniz, descended from Kepler, who in turn is descended even from Martin Luther.

11:06 FUN fact about Pope Leo XIII: he is the earliest (verifiably) born person to be filmed in a motion picture. Born in 1810!

Correction: The Medici Popes were cousins, not uncle and nephew. Pope Clement VII was born as Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici and Pope Leo X was born as Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici. Giuliano and Lorenzo were brothers. Giuliano was assassinated on Eastern Sunday in 1478 by the Pazzi, a powerful family of Florence and major nemesis of the Medici. Following his father's death, Giulio was raised along side his cousins by his uncle Lorenzo the Magnificent.

That was fascinating. I knew of the concept of apostolic succession but never seen it laid out like this.

You forgot to mention that a bishop doesn't just have a single "parent"; in an episcopal consecration two pishops beyond the principal consecrator take part. In extreme circumstances their number may be reduced to one, but a consecration by a sole consecrator is deemed faulty (although still valid). It has been a custom in the Catholic Church to chose as co-consecrators bishops from diverse lineages, including oriental ones, exactly in order for the chain of cuccession not to be reliant on any single link.

Vaguely similar is the genealogy of mathematicians and their supervisors, there's already a lot of data out ther

Fun fact. The guy who vetoed the election of cardinal Rampolla is also on this chart - it was cardinal Puzyna in the lineage of John Paul II. He was a bishop of Krakow in the part of Poland under Austrian rule, during the partition period.

In large dioceses, there are also auxiliary bishops. When I was a child, my parish’s pastor was also an auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn, NY

In spite of there inevitably being fires, people still knew who laid hands on whom so traditional lineages are probably correct. I think some Orthodox branches trace their lineages back to St. Mark.

Great chart, but there’s one correction I would make with your terminology. What you call an “appointment” in the beginning should instead be an “ordination”. A bishop is only ordained once, by one principal bishop conferring the ordination to make a priest a bishop. However, the appointment of a bishop refers to where his assignment is after he is ordained. A bishop is only ordained once but can often get many assignments throughout his life

A lot of this info is really good, just one tiny ‘correction’ or additional thing. As a Roman Catholic, and as far my limited understanding goes, many consider the apostle Simon-Peter specifically as the ‘first pope’ because Jesus instructed him to lead the church after his resurrection and giving him his ‘papal name’ of Peter (or Petra in Latin which means rock I believe).

OMG YOU DID IT! I asked you on Twitter for something like this and you did it. Thanks man. I liked this vid already. Would be cool to also show some other denominations like this. I'm sure it is difficult.

17:30 Correction: we never had two popes. From 2013-now there has only been one pope, Francis. After 2013 Pope Benedict was pope emeritus not pope.

Man, Matt Parker finds his way into every RU-vid video

Non denominationals be like my dad is a pastor he planted his church in 1994! lol

I wonder how far back do orthodox and oriental patriarchs trace

Matt, you are using incorrect terminology. A bishop is not merely appointed, he is consecrated / ordained, by the laying on of hands by three Bishops, and other ceremonies. This is a sacrament. The Apostolic Succession is a sacramental succession, not merely a succession of appointments. This point cannot be over stressed!

Vatican I Council is said "First Vatican Council" and not "Vatican one council". Great video btw!

It is incorrect that there is only one bishop per every diocese. Some dioceses have a main bishop but they could also have a coadjutor bishop or an auxiliary bishop which is like an assistant bishop. These are considered bishops because they are consecrated in the same way as the main bishop of a diocese.

Would be good to point out that diocese can have more than one bishop, with auxiliaries where needed, but there is only one bishop with a Cathedra at a Cathedral in each diocese

Lotsa good research. I'm probably gonna be looking at this again and again.

Am I the only one who thinks its misleading that you say in the title that all popes share a common ancestor, but then go on to tell us about two? And might I add, neither of which is mentioned in the intro... (since neither of them is either Jesus or Peter??)

Catholic and this is actually very comprehensive. Thank you!

Very informative, first class video. THANKS

Always love your content!

You are so inspirational to me. Wish I knew how to do this. In detail. Fascinating.

Thank you for the video that was really interesting

Fascinating chart! I remember back in my chemistry department (at UW-Madison) we had a chart like this for all of our professors, and nearly all of them could be traced back to Emil Fischer in mid 1800s Germany!

Very very interesting as always !

Thanks for the great video.

Can I ask the people watching this a question? If you're in your 20s or older did you ever imagine back when you were in school that one day you would be sitting watching a long video about a chart that explains the timelines of popes for no other reason than you choose to because you find it extremely interesting and entertaining? No, neither did I. Education is wasted on the young. It makes me so happy to know there are so many other people out there interested in this sort of thing.

"saved thousands" - "could have done more" smh

Thanks to the fan that created the chart and to you as well for sharing it with us 👍🏻

That was really interesting! A very good idea 👏

A slight nitpick: cardinals properly have their title placed before their surname, and the title should be italicized in print. Thus, for instance, the bishop who consecrated the current pope as a bishop is properly "Antonio /Cardinal/ Quarrancino", not "Cardinal Antonio Quarrancino", as printed on this chart.

It'd be awesome if you can also do a Tree for all the Sufi Tariqas and their Silsilas. Like they all also have chains going from student to teacher.

there's a non zero chance that a warlord in the dark ages (edit : illegally) promotes one of their men into a bishop and that bishop becomes this lineage today

For a second I thought you were going to somehow link them genealogically with Saint Peter, until I realised the premise of the video. It reminds me of a "Western Composers" chart that was on the subreddit a long time ago.

That was cool! Can you do one for Orthodox bishops?

Can you make a video about the tree of Christian monasticism? hermits, cenobites, Irish, Benedictines and their branches, minor friars, military orders, etc.

+1 for the advert with the Chicago Tribune headline on it. lol

Great video

Amazing ! I never imagined this type of chart! Would a dog breed chart be possible?

Hello Matt, another great video - thanks! Only one question though, I would have thought that Queen Elizabeth II would have been seen by more people worldwide in all her travels over 70 years than the great work St John-Paul II in his time as the Bishop of Rome?

Interesting, thank you.

POPE PIUS XI ('22-'39) seems SO intriguing.

The Lutheran Church of Sweden also claims apostolic succession, and are a part of the D'Estouteville lineage. Splitting off via Julius II --> Cardinal Achille Grassi --> Bishop and Papal Master of Ceremonies Paris de Grassis --> Bishop Peder Månsson --> Laurentius Petri, the first Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden from who all Swedish bishops today are "descended" from.

I’d like to see something similar for doctoral advisors. I’ve traced a few in Wikipedia about 5 “generations” deep. It’s interesting to see the progression from, say, a theologian to a physicist.

So for an interesting fact Edward Henry Howard is from the family of the Dukes of Norfolk who are catholic dukes within Britain and are also the only surviving non royal dukedom from the wars of the roses. The family is also catholic and had the practice of recusancy

Yor retelling of the short reign of Pope John Paul I, video reminded me of my experience when Pope John XXIII died. My husband at the time worked for the morning newspaper in our very Catholic hometown. After putting the paper “to bed” for the night, he, and his coworkers, when to the local pub. A few minutes later someone came in and shouted, “the pope died.” The crew returned to the office, stopped the presses, and added a new headline and photo of Pope John Paul I to the front page. When my husband came home late, he had to wake me up to tell me, “Honey, the pope died.” I wasn’t happy. When he came home with the same story a month later, I really wasn’t happy. But not because the pope died.

Are you able to do the same just for Orthodox Church Patriarchs?

Nice vid! I had to check the lineage claimed by the Church of Sweden. Here it is for anyone interested: The first two Lutheran bishops of Sweden had been consecrated by Petrus Magni, and that’s how the church can claim apostolic succession. Petrus Magni was consecrated in Rome by Paris de Grassis and then the line goes via Achille Grassi to Pope Julius II to join your D’Estouteville lineage. Needless to say, the Catholic Church disputes this claim.

All in all, this was a fantastic video that is super informative. I learned a few things and it was really cool to see all the connections, but I do have two minor complaints: 1. There are some dioceses that have multiple bishops. In most Archdioceses, you'll have the Archbishop and one or a few Auxiliary Bishops. That being said, what was said in the video wasn't necessarily wrong if you meant that each diocese is led by one bishop and that one bishop might have a support staff that includes other bishops. 2. Vatican II was more about completing Vatican I since Vatican I was cut short due to wars in Europe. If you read the documents, it had very little to do with what was said in the video. While the most visible and striking change after Vatican II was a change in the liturgy, that was not called for by Vatican II. This is where we get the distinction between the actual documents of Vatican II and the "Spirit" of Vatican II. But that's a rabbit-hole that non-Catholics wouldn't/shouldn't be interested in. Following the two minor complaints, I thought I'd point out two things I thought were done exceptionally well: 1. The way you handled the topic of Sedevacantism. I didn't think you'd even bring it up because it's a relatively obscure topic. But not only did you address it, but you were able to give a solid background without getting too deep into all the different forms of it. 2. This is the first video I've found that addresses Pius XII and gave an accurate overview of the controversy. Normally, I see him as presented as some villain that was a servant of you-know-who.

Thank you for being one of the only people in Anglophone North America to get the Immaculate Conception right! _Everyone_ thinks it's the same thing as the Virgin Birth -- and like, I doubt anybody's _died_ or anything because of the mixup, but it drives me crazy.

The first pope who's been a world traveler was actually Paul VI. John Paul II followed in his footsteps (in more ways than just this one), but on a larger scale.

3:38 In fact, there is only one _ordinary_ bishop per diocese. He can have auxiliary bishops under him in the same diocese.

Oh wow. What an idea. Surpassed our expectations.

Sorry, but I have to disagree when you talked about Pius XII. His role in WW2 was great, he saved 800,000 jews from the holocaust and even rome's rabbi converted to catholicism when he saw Pius XII effort in protecting his people. He thought it was better not to denounce publicly bc he could be crushed instead he chose to help the victims. He knew pens couldnt stop Hitler, only steel

The video is very correct, the records that mention the video were in the wake of the Sack of Rome, where many ancient documents were lost, also the few ancient documents were destroyed with the theft of the Vatican archives by Napoleon, leaving only few records. . Even so, there are consecrations of Eastern bishops, of Orthodox apostolic succession, who consecrated and even consecrated Roman bishops, tracing that succession to the Byzantine church, the same thing happens with the Anglicans, who also have a valid succession not so much because of the character in the video, but by the Orthodox and Old Catholic bishops who consecrated them, that is the Anglican argument for apostolic succession. The Eastern churches also have very ancient successions.

Small point at 3:35 - technically there are more than one bishop per diocese (auxillary/suffragan bishops) but only ever one Diocesan Bishop who holds the See.

I appreciate the detail of using green, the actual ecclesial color of the office of Bishop, to represent bishops

Shouldn't it be who appointed whom?

Excited to watch this

This is super cool! I would buy several copies if you made this and honestly know a TON of Catholics who would. Heck Catholic book stores might even sell it for you.

A recommendation: How about doing a video of the lineage of the Archbishops of Utrecht, which eventually would split of the roman-catholic Church and become the primus inter pares of the Old Catholic Church, formed after schism following the Vatican I Council?

never been this early

One of my Dad's cousins just got appointed as a Bishop

Thank you. ❤😊

An interesting idea for a video and chart would be the papal prophecies of saint malachy.

Could we get the Orthodox version of this with the head of Constantinople?

Proudly Catholic

Halo Matt, how many types of genealogy chart can we use scientifically? Do you have some literature references? Thanks

Please do a chart of mythology (gods, creatures, etc) region/date. as in when did these creatures/mythology started to appear. Like how superman came out during/after the nuke. to see the conjunction of what was happening during that time period

It would be cool if you did this for other pope (like the Coptic pope)

How about a family tree of popes that lead back to the apostles and Jesus

The title is a bit misleading. Maybe if you add "by Apostolic Succession" at the end will be better. I first thought it was a blood related ancestry and I was almost not going to watch it. But when I saw that it was based on apostolic succession I saw it and it is great! Very interesting!

John Paul the First was also the first to call himself "First" from the first. Until he got whacked by Archbishop Gilday (The Godfather III).

1:20 Jesus was the originator of the MLM Pyramid scam.

Spoiler alert: It's Adam and Eve.

Very nice presentation as usual. Sadly enough one teeny weeny mistake: pope Clement VII was not the nephew but the cousin of Leo X.

thank you so much for bringing attention to Sedevacantism.

That non cardinal elected Pope 600 years ago was a based giga-chad

The pope is dope

Apostolic Succession doesn't refer to bishops appointing other men to be bishops, but to a bishop consecrating a priest as bishop (the distinction is important).

Is there a data sufficient to prepare such chart for eastern bishops as well?

I love how Chart and nation by jewish person Animation by muslim Audio by muslim. Teamwork. (I wish hes not zionist)

It's not "Roman" Catholic but Catholic The pope is the bishop of Rome There are 22 rites within the Catholic Church eg Maronite, Syriac, etc The Orthodox Churches, as parts of the Catholic Church in schism have valid apostolic succession. Luther was excommunicated and started his own religion - his successors have no apostolic succession Neither have the Anglicans apostolic succession. As a member of the Anglican church, John Henry Newman was tasked to prove their apostolic succession. As he was unable to do so, he left and became Catholic

As a Catholic, I very much appreciate this video. This is super awesome and it’s cool to see the apostolic lineage.

Roman Catholic Dioceses can have a bishop and auxiliary bishops as well, who have all the ecclesiastical powers of the main bishop (called the "ordinary".) Auxiliary bishops are usually appointed as full bishop of a diocese that doesn't exist anymore, but actually have no geographically-based powers in that area. For example, the Diocese of Brooklyn, NY, has a Bishop who serves as the Ordinary, and two Auxiliary Bishops subordinate to him.

*Fun Fact:* The word "pope" means "Father," a common title used for priests by their partitioners. However, "daddy" (another synonymus word), is generally used by alter boys during summer camp.

Will you also do Eastern and Oriental Popes?

I would be interesting if you could do a similar work (albeit I measure how difficult or even impossible it would be) for the head(s) of the Armenian Apostolic Church. According to tradition, the church traces its roots to the apostles St. Barthelemy and St. Thadeus (also called Jude). However, the Curch separated from the main branch only in 451.

The fact that there are thousands of bishops yet the popes are so closely linked seems to quite a concentration of power.

It would be very interesting to see a similar tree but focusing on the cardinal nombration. This Pope named cardinal this other pope, and so on.

There is a good documentary series about Pope Pius XII and WW2 called Secret Vatican Files

0:45 Not who *appointed* whom as bishop, but who *ordained* (or *consecrated* ) whom as bishop.

Question for anyone who knows. Unless my math is off the long line of exclusively Italian popes between Adrian VI and John Paul II includes popes from both bishop lineages mentioned here. Does that play into it at all?

Very Interesting