Martyrs of the Papacy

When Pope John Paul II - the first non-Italian Pope since the Dutch-born Adrian VI (1522 - 23) - was shot and wounded by a Turkish gunman in Rome in 1981, the Christian world was outraged. But he was by no means the first Pope to become the target of violence. Of the 266 churchmen who have so far held office as the head of the Roman Catholic Church, 33 have died by violence. Of the 266 churchmen who have so far held office as head of the Roman Catholic Church, 33 have died by violence. The earliest martyr was St. Peter, regarded by Catholics as the first Pope, who is believed to have been crucified upside down in about AD 64 during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero. The first to be assassinated (rather than executed on a government’s orders) was John VIII, who was killed in December 882. Despite the pomp that often surrounds the Vatican, the pope - the word comes from the Greek “pappas”, meaning “father” - has long had a formal reminder of humility. Since the reign of Gregory I (590 - 604), every pope had called himself the ‘Servant of the servants of God’.