Pious, lions, innocents: What does culture tell us about popes?
6 June 2026 at 04:00
Urban VIII corresponded with Francisco de Quevedo, Alexander VII spent his leisure time as pope writing little poems in Latin, and John Paul II β who had studied St. John of the Cross in his youth β even published a collection of poems, Roman Triptych (2003), while still occupying the Chair of Saint Peter.

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