Which pope had children?

Answer 1

A:

We can never know all of the popes who had children, because of the practice by senior clergy of referring to their illegitimate sons as nephews, in order to maintain the fiction of celibacy. In some cases, it is clear that a so-called 'nephew' was really an illegitimate son; in other cases, it is equally clear that the younger man was certainly a nephew and therefore not a son; while sometimes there is no certainty whether or not the 'nephew' was an illegitimate son of a particular pope.

Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was the 'nephew' of Pope Clement III, and his own nephew was destined to become Pope Gregory IX, whose nephew in turn became Pope Alexander IV. Given the moral tone of the Vatican during much of the Middle Ages, it is quite possible that the four popes just mentioned all formed a dynastic line from father to son.

Pope Innocent VIII (1484-1492) was the first pope to openly acknowledge his illegitimate children, although he only had two - a girl and a boy.

Answer 2

Several popes fathered children but Roderic Llançol i de Borja (Rodrigo Borgia) - Pope Alexander VI - was the father to 11 children.