Illiterate popes

Several popes are regarded by historians as illiterate, including:

• Saint Peter (c. 30-68) — Peter is described in Acts 4:13 as "uneducated and ordinary" (NRSV); the Koine Greek agrammatoi (ἀγράμματοι) can be literally translated as "unlettered" or "illiterate." Mainstream source criticism of the Petrine epistles holds that it is highly unlikely that Peter personally wrote the letters attributed to him, since their precise, philosophical tone does not fit with his early life as a fisherman in the small town of Capernaum. However, some scholars attempt to reconcile this by positing that Peter dictated his letters to one or more amanuenses, who then edited and polished them.
• Pope Zephyrinus (199–217) — The Refutation of All Heresies includes the observation that "Pope Zephyrinus was illiterate."
• Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159) — George Washington Dean writes: "Adrian IV., the only English Pope, had been an illiterate servant in a monastery at Avignon."
• Pope Celestine V (1294) — The Lanercost Chronicle records: "On the commemoration day of S. Paul [June 30], Celestinus the Fifth was created Pope, who, albeit illiterate, was the priest and confessor of his predecessor."

Wrongly regarded as illiterate

Ludwig von Pastor has shown that Pope Julius II (1503–1513) was not illiterate, although he is poetically referred to as such by Desiderius Erasmus.

Notes

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