Year of three popes Year of three popes A year of three popes is a common reference to a year when the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church are required to elect two new popes within the same calendar year. Such a year generally occurs when a newly elected pope dies or resigns very early into his papacy. This results in the Catholic Church being led by three different popes during the same calendar year. The most recent instance of a year of three popes occurred in 1978. The three popes involved were: There have been several instances in which three or more
Prophecy of the Popes this document the entourage of the Cardinal Giovanni Girolamo Albani interprets the motto ""De rore coeli"" ("From the dew of the sky") as a reference to their master, on the base of the link between ""alba"" ("dawn") and Albani, and the dew, as a typical morning atmospheric phenomenon. The interpretation of the prophecies for pre-publication popes provided by Wion involves close correspondences between the mottos and the popes' birthplaces, family names, personal arms, and pre-papal titles. For example, the first motto, "Ex castro Tiberis" (from a castle on the Tiber), fits Pope Celestine II's birthplace in Città di Castello, on