The Pope who smoked – Benedict XIII

I recently came across a rather humorous anecdote from Catholic history: the smoking pope Benedict XIII of blessed memory. Reminds me of the fidgety cardinal in Godfather III, the one always trying to make bank deals regarding “Immobilare”.

Way back in 1624, Pope Urban VIII spoke out against the evils of tobacco and threatened excommunication for anyone who smoked or snuffed in consecrated spaces (i.e. churches, shrines, convents). Pope Innocent X followed up with an anti-smoking bull in 1650.

And then there was Benedict XIII. He put Innocent X’s bull in his pipe and smoked it. Not literally, but he reversed the decision in 1725. I once heard a rumor that this pope used tobacco while he celebrated the Holy Mass, but I’m going to chalk that up as an apocryphal legend.

In 1863 Pope Bl. Pius IX of blessed memory built a cigar factory in Rome facing Mastai’s Square bearing this inscription:

Translated, this reads:

Pope John Paul II of blessed memory snuffed out this tradition when he banned all tobacco smoking on Vatican property on July 1, 2002. The only smoke allowed at St Peter’s is that wafting from the thuribles.