Popes on Parade: Shortest Reigning Popes
RankPopeDatesLength
1Urban VII15 - 27 September, 159012 days
2Boniface VIApril, 896about 15 days
3Celestine IV25 October - 10 November, 124116 days
4Pius III01 - 18 October, 150317 days
5Sisinnius15 January - 04 February, 70820 days
6Theodore IIINovember or December, 897about 20 days
7Marcellus II10 April - 01 May, 155521 days
8Damasus II17 July - 09 August, 104823 days
9Leo XI01 - 27 April, 160527 days
10Benedict V22 May - 04 July, 96432 days
11John Paul I26 August - 28 September, 197833 days

Note: One pontificate is so short that the Pope in question actually died before his consecration. Since he was never actually consecrated, his name was (much later) removed from the official lists. Were it not, we would have to amend the table as follows:

RankPopeDatesLength
0Stephen II03 - 07 March, 7524 days

Average length of a pontificate is about 7.5 years.

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