This page is a list of popes by country of origin. They are listed in chronological order within each section.
As the office of pope has existed for almost two millennia, many of the countries of origin of popes no longer exist, and so they are grouped under their modern equivalents.
There have been 266 popes:
| Nationality | Number of popes | |
|---|---|---|
| Africa Province (Roman Empire) | 3 | |
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| Croatia (Kingdom of the Lombards) Dalmatia | 2 | |
| England | 1 | |
| Kingdom of France (medieval) French part of Holy Roman Empire | 16 | |
| German part of Holy Roman Empire Modern Germany | 6 | |
| Roman Greece Byzantine Greece | 4 | |
| Italian Peninsula (see table below) | 217 | |
| Roman Galilee Iudaea Province (Roman Empire) Byzantine Palestine | 3 | |
| Dutch part of Holy Roman Empire | 1 | |
| People's Republic of Poland | 1 | |
| Lusitania (Roman Empire) Portugal | 2 | |
| Roman Syria Byzantine Syria | 5 | |
| Spain (Valencia in the Crown of Aragon) | 2 | |
| Total | 266 |
Lusitania corresponds to present-day Portugal.
These popes are from the Roman province of Africa, which corresponds to the coastal parts of Tunisia, Libya and Algeria.
Dalmatia was at the time part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. It is now part of the modern Republic of Croatia.
The concept of nationality only arose during the Middle Ages.
England is part of the modern United Kingdom.
French is the most common non-Italian papal ancestry. Seventeen popes have had French ancestry, all in the second half of the medieval era. The seven popes of the Avignon Papacy were French and are bolded. Since the end of the Avignon Papacy, no French person has been elected pope.
The Italian Peninsula, from the beginning of the Middle Ages until the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, was divided into numerous city-states and other political entities. Among these, the Papal States was the birthplace of most of the popes. Other Italian states where more popes were born were the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of Naples, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Milan and the Florentine Republic and its successor the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The Kingdom of Valencia was then part of the possessions of the Crown of Aragon; it is now part of modern Spain.