Popes In And Out Of Fiction

(For us, this will be another Anderson-Blish comparison although, of course, our two guys do not have a monopoly on fictional Popes.) 

What can be done with Popes in fiction? Anything, of course, although there are some rules. In a historical novel like James Blish's Doctor Mirabilis, Popes succeed each other as they did in our history. As long as the genre remains historical fiction, they cannot do anything else.

A contemporary novel can feature a fictional Pope, thus taking a single sideways step into alternative history. Blish's futuristic sf novel, A Case Of Conscience, of necessity features a fictional Pope although he is named Hadrian VIII, thus acknowledging Hadrian VII.

Let us venture further into alternative history. When some of Poul Anderson's Time Patrol agents enter a divergent timeline, a major clue as to the moment of divergence is that a particular Pope is absent from the list. In our timeline, neither side must decisively win the medieval church-state conflict. The character of a particular Pope or Emperor can make the difference.

These reflections are occasioned by a clever reference in Blish's The Day After Judgment. Monte Albano is a fictional monastery where the monks are magicians. One of its Abbots became Pope John XX. I googled John XX, not expecting to find that he had been Abbot of Monte Albano! Instead, I found that there was no John XX in our history. See here. Blish must have known this.

Finally, later in The Day After Judgment, a demon Pope is elected...

Anything is possible. See also Robert Silverberg's Pope Sixtus the Seventh.

Addendum: Blogging allows second and third thoughts. I forgot to mention that, in the third Godfather film, a Cardinal whom I thought was fictional is elected Pope and chooses the name, "Joannes Paulus Primus." He is a real guy and we know what will happen next.