Come on, guys. The first pope—a guy known as St. Peter—took the job 1,987 years ago. There have been 266 popes since then. Do you actually think the Young Pope, played by 44-year-old Jude Law, would really be the youngest pope? Not even close!
In fact, Peter himself was the first young pope; Jesus Himself appointed the 32-year-old to be the head of his church (delivering to him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven), and the Vatican grandfathered him in and recognised him as the first Pope (so he's basically the Granddaddy of Young Popes). Since then, there have been 58 popes younger than young pope. There's actually no age limit to be pope, though, since the early 15th century, there has not been a pope younger than 44 years old. John XII is believed to be the youngest pope ever, taking the job at the ripe age of 18. This youngster took the job during a rash of young popes at the end of the first century. Sadly, the poor kid was murdered in 964. During those days, we had a few of our youngest of young popes including Benedict IX who is believed to be as old as 20 and the little scamp Gregory V at 24 years old.
There are a few gaps in my research, of course, because the ages become unclear at the beginning of the 13th century. Some were murdered before coronation, and there was a brief weird one-year term limit in which some young popes were young popes twice. Around the 15th Century, the Church decided to stop electing young popes; Leo X was the last young pope in 1513 at the age of 37. As young pope, Leo X escaped a plot by cardinals to poison him and made progress on rebuilding Saint Peter's Basilica (named after our first young pope) with decorations from Raphael.
Let's see Jude Law top that.
Below, in order the list of all the young popes:
St. Peter — 32
St. Alexander I — 30
St. Victor I — 34
St. Zephyrinus — 39
St. Fabian — 36
St. Sixtus II — 42
St. Eutychian — 35
St. Caius — 38
St. Miltiades — 41
St. Sylvester I — 29
Liberius — 42
St. Innocent I — 41
St. Boniface I — 43
St. Celestine I — 42
St. Sixtus III — 42
St. Simplicius — 38
St. Felix III — 43
St. Symmachus — 38
St. Hormisdas — 39
St. Felix IV — 36
Boniface II — 40
St. Silverius — 36
Vigilius — 37
John III — 41
Boniface V — 44
Honorius I — 40
John IV — 40
Theodore I — 32
St. Eugene I — 39
St. Sergius I — 37
Constantine — 44
St. Gregory III — 41
Stephen II — 38
St. Paschal I — 42
Eugene II — 44
Gregory IV — 37
St. Nicholas I — 39
Sergius III — 44
John XI — 21
Leo VII — 41
Stephen VIII — 39
Marinus II — 42
Agapetus II — 41
John XII — 18/27?
Benedict VII — 44
John XIV — 43
John XV — 35
Gregory V — 24
John XVIII — 43
Sergius IV — 44
Benedict VIII — 32
Benedict IX — 20
Clement II — 41
Victor II — 37
Stephen IX — 37
Eugene III — 44
Innocent III — 37
Leo X — 37
Jude Law — 44
